Not so strangers
by GA101
Summary: When Meredith realizes she has gotten herself in a tough situation, she does what Meredith does. She runs. What happens when the people who find her are people she thinks she knows ? Post Prom night
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world of Grey's.**

**Okay, so this is my newest story. It's also only my second one. And it's just a trial one. _Ever Ever After,_ my other fanfic, is my real baby. And so this one probably won't be updated very fast, or very soon. It all depends on your interest. **

**So if you're not already reading Ever Ever After, give it a look while waiting for this one to really start. And I do have ideas for this story, I just don't know if I can handle writting both at the same time. Anyway, enjoy !**

Meredith didn't know where she was. She could hear the planes flying over her head. Something told her that she needed to get out of the rain. But she didn't care anymore. She tried really hard to keep her mind from drifting to the events of that night, but the memories just kept flooding back, even when she tried so hard to keep them out.

_Prom night. It had sounded like a terrible idea from the beginning, but she wanted to have some fond memory of her relationship with Finn, and have a night where she could get Derek out of her head. But it seemed near impossible to do that, especially with his staring._

_And then it happened. The mistake she had been dreading since the beginning of the evening. And Derek. He was just so … Derek. And she couldn't help but fight it. But she knew it was wrong. She knew that she couldn't do this. Not again. She was a slut, a home wrecker. And she couldn't be labeled that again. Even if it had been Derek's fault. She needed to find a way to avoid all this._

_And running seemed to be her thing. And the best option in this case._

_She had run, not knowing where she was going. But she didn't care. She needed to get as far away as possible. And fast. Instinctively, she thought about her mother, and how she had run away from her problems. And as hard as she tried not to, Meredith ended up being like her mother in the end. Running away, rather than facing her problems. But Meredith wasn't her mother. She was better at running. She did it fast._

_And the airport seemed like her best option. Flying was the fastest way out of this city. It may be a challenge, but she knew that she could find a flight. She'd go anywhere. She'd rather be anywhere. Anywhere but here. She thought about just staying in Seattle, just not going to work again. But she knew somebody would find her eventually. This way, she was out of the radar._

_She bought a ticket on the earliest flight she could get. She didn't even know where it was going to take her. She didn't care. She made her way to the terminal that she had been indicated to and was directly brought to the plane. When she felt it lift off the ground, she knew she didn't want to ever come back to the place that had caused her so much misery._

It was cold out, very cold, and it was then that Meredith noticed that she was still in her prom dress. Without her panties. She didn't know where she was. She thought about asking one of the many people leaving the airport, but she decided against it. She didn't care anymore. She felt no reason to care. She was not only lost in an unknown place, she was lost in the most familiar place to her too. And that was in herself.

She didn't know what her heart was trying to tell her. And her pounding head made even less sense. She was cold, and hungry, and although she had slept the entire plane ride, she was exhausted. Even more exhausted than she was after a forty-eight hour shift. Not only she didn't know where she was, but she had lost all track of time too. But it was getting brighter out, which meant it was nearing the morning. But the morning where?

For all she knew, she was in Australia. Or France. Cuba sounded good right now. But she knew that wasn't possible. It was cold out. Maybe she was in Canada. Yeah, it was cold there.

But her attention was brought to the flag flying high in the sky just in front of her. She recognized the flag. Sadly. It was the flag of her home country. She was still in the US. But the US was big. _Maybe I'm in Alaska. _But she knew that the airport in Alaska wouldn't be nearly this crowded.

She gave up on guessing where she was. She just hoped that it wasn't near Seattle. She saw a bench a little ways down from the airport, just out of the parking lot, and thought it would be best to just sit down. Maybe even close her eyes. She grabbed the bag she had been carrying. _I don't remember packing a bag. _But she didn't remember much of anything.

She opened it and noticed, that it was in fact, a bag full of her stuff. Her clothes, a few books. She even found her tooth brush and a face cloth. _At least I know what I'll need, even when I don't know what I'm doing. _She grabbed an old ratty sweatshirt from her bag and slipped it over her dress. She placed herself comfortably on the bench, well as comfortably as she could, and without any trouble, slipped into unconsciousness.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith awoke when she heard someone approach. She didn't know if she should be scared, or thankful. When she looked up at her visitor, she noticed it was an elderly lady, not seeming to be able to hurt a fly.

"Are you okay?" the lady asked as she got closer.

Meredith felt like answering she was fine, but clearly, she wasn't. She shook her head.

"Are you hurt?"

Meredith knew she meant physically, but she felt like answering yes anyway. But she didn't.

Next thing she knew, she was sobbing. She didn't even acknowledge the fact that the woman had put her arms around her shoulder and had led her to her car. She didn't remember getting into the car, and her body being so thankful for the warmth. But she did remember falling asleep as the old lady drove silently to who knows where. All she hoped was that she wasn't going to Seattle.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

She awoke to the smell of coffee. The smell of coffee always woke her up. It was her favorite smell to wake up to. That and the smell of Derek.

But when she lifted herself in her bed, she realized she wasn't at home. Then the memories of the previous night came flooding back. _Where am I? _she thought. _How did I get here? Who brought me here?_

She then remembered the elderly lady from the night before. Had she imagined her? Surely not, or else how could she explain this unknown room. _She must have brought me here_. But where was here?

"Good morning," she heard a voice call from the doorway. Surprisingly, she recognized the older lady from the night before. "It's good to see you're finally awake."

_Finally? _Meredith asked herself. She asked the first question that popped into her head.

"What time is it?"

"It's a little past three o'clock."

Meredith looked out the window in the room and noticed the sun was high in the sky.

"Where am I?" This was the key question.

"You're at my home. I found you beside the airport. My son-in-law helped me bring you here."

That still didn't answer Meredith's question. _Where was she?_

Meredith shook her head. "Where are we, I mean … geographically speaking."

The elder looked a little confused.

"Well, you're in New York."

Meredith nodded as she took this in. The eastern coast. Far away from Seattle. That's all that matters.

The older woman passed her the cup of coffee. Meredith took it gratefully, but not rudely.

"Thank you," she said.

The woman smiled. Suddenly, Meredith seemed to recognize her. "My pleasure dear."

It became quiet. But not for long. Meredith heard a door open and close, and a voice coming from another room.

"Cory said something about you having a visitor," she heard a female voice exclaim as the voice got louder. "What was he talking ab…" she trailed off when she walked up to the doorway. "Oh."

Meredith looked up to the new comer, and somehow, she recognized her too. But she didn't know these people.

"Honey, will you come out to the hall with me?" the woman who had been caring for Meredith said to the one who had just walked in.

She just nodded as she left the room. Meredith couldn't make out any words through the door, but she heard muffled sounds. Finally, the older woman, whom she still didn't know the name of walked in. She smiled at Meredith and sat down beside her.

"I'm Carolyn, by the way," the woman introduced herself.

"I'm Meredith," she replied politely.

There was a short silence before Carolyn spoke up.

"Why did you come to New York?" she asked.

Meredith shrugged. "Back where I was, something happened. I just needed to get out. I didn't know where I was going."

Carolyn nodded. "Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need. I've had five children and know how to handle situations like this, especially considering four of them were girls."

Meredith thanked her again.

"And Natalie, my daughter that was just here, she's been through a similar situation. Although, we found her a few hours from here after a few days. We didn't stop worrying about her. And I'm sure your family is just as worried."

Meredith shook her head. "I don't have a family."

"What do you mean?"

Meredith explained. "My father left me when I was just a kid. My mother never cared for me, and besides, she's in a home with Alzheimer's. She thinks I'm still five."

Carolyn gave her a sympathetic stare. Meredith surprised herself in confiding in this woman she didn't know. But maybe it was easier that way. Because you knew they couldn't go tell everybody, because they didn't know anybody who would care about some strangers problems.

"Well I'll make sure you know what family is really like. But for now, you should just sleep." Meredith nodded slowly as Carolyn grabbed her cup from her hand and left the room."Sleep tight," she said as she left the room.

"Thank you."

**Okay, so I know it's easy for most of you to guess ... but I want to hear about it and see if you've got it right ! If I have lots of reviews, I'll think about updating this faster. I just wanted to give this one a try. So ENJOY !**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Not mine !**

**Okay, so I know it has been a very, VERY long time since I've updated this story, but I did forewarn all of you that it would be a long time. However, I got a review for this story just a few weeks back and it made me realize that people still want to know what's going to happen. So I'm finally updating, and I hope to be able to update this story more regularly. I do suggest that people reread the first chapter, cause it has been a LONG time. Sorry, again, about that P:**

**Anyway, ENJOY!**

When Meredith awoke again, she knew where she was. She remembered the elderly woman, Carolyn, and her all too familiar smile. She remembered her awful trip here, but even worse, she remembered what had pushed her to come. It was painful to think that Derek had probably just forgotten about her, and things had probably just gone back to normal with Addison. Maybe she would just be better off staying in New York. Finding a job, moving on with her life. She could probably even use the 'daughter of Ellis Grey' card to continue her internship at a hospital nearby without too much question.

The room was dark. Much darker than it had been the last time she was awake. But there was something about the dark room that made her comfortable, like as if she was home. And not home in Seattle, in her mother's house. The real sensation of being home, something she had never felt before. But in this house, in this room, Meredith finally discovered what home felt like.

She stepped out of bed and spun around to get a better look at the room. The dark blue walls and matching bedding and curtains gave her the hint that it had either been redone or had been a boys room. But the matching bedside table covered in baseball and hockey trophies and metals gave the rooms identity away. _It probably belonged to Carolyn's only son, _she thought to herself. She had remembered everything from her talk earlier that day. Including the family history of this home.

She continued looking around the room and her eyes suddenly landed on her bag, opened and laid out in the corner. When she looked down at herself, she noticed she was still wearing her prom dress. She immediately went to her bag and grabbed an old ratty tee and gym pants and changed. She didn't need to be reminded of the terrible night she had had.

Her eyes finally fell on a clock in the corner of the room. It read 10:18. It had been an entire day since she had run out of the hospital. Well, almost, considering the time change. It had _almost _been a day since she had done the McNasty in the exam room. But she shook the thought from her head.

She decided she'd adventure out of the room. She felt like she was coming out of a cave after a winter of hibernation. Except she hadn't ever seen the outside of her living space.

The hallway was filled with doors. Some of the doors were opened, others were closed. She didn't want to intrude, so she didn't bother looking in any of them. She felt like enough of a burden already, intruding on perfect strangers lives.

She found a stairway at the end of one of the hallways. She decided she'd adventure downstairs, but was stopped on the way down as something on the wall had caught her attention. Pictures. Wedding pictures.

The one on the top was on older photograph, and Meredith thought she recognized Carolyn as to being the bride. Under that one was four more wedding pictures, but that wasn't what had caught Meredith's attention. It was the lone nail in the middle. A hole, where she had guessed, a picture once sat.

"My daughters," she heard a voice say behind her. Meredith jumped as she spun around. She then realized she had been caught.

"I'm so sorry..." she muttered. "I shouldn't have been here, looking around, snooping, I just needed to get out of the room, and the pictures caught my attention and I couldn't help but stop and look at –"

Carolyn just started giggling. "Has anybody ever told you about...?"

"My rambling?" Meredith asked. "Yeah, several people actually."

Carolyn just continued to giggle as she waved for Meredith to come over and join her. She followed her into the kitchen and set a steaming cup of coffee and a plate of cookies in front of her.

"I know it's late and coffee doesn't usually help to put people to bed, but it's comforting. And it's decaf," she added with a wink. It made Meredith smile.

"Thanks," she said with a smile as she drank the hot drink, letting it slip down her throat with complaint. It was scorching, but it felt good in the moment.

"So, Meredith," Carolyn started. Meredith worried about what she was about to ask. Although she felt comfortable with the woman, she didn't feel like having a heart to heart right away. "If you could pick one place in the world to visit, where would it be?"

Meredith just looked stunned at her question which made Carolyn laugh even harder than before. "I have more grandkids than I can remember and I usually ask questions like this when I get to know their friends. Easy things. Thought it might work with you too."

Meredith smiled and nodded. "Dublin," was all she answered.

Carolyn squinted her eyes. "Dublin?" she asked, confused. "Why Dublin?"

Meredith shrugged. "First place that popped into my head. And I've always wanted to go to Ireland. I had a friend who lived there. We met one summer when she came to visit her family here in the US."

Carolyn nodded. Meredith decided to get in on the game.

"How about you?"

Carolyn smiled. "I want to go to Australia."

Meredith giggled. "Dublin doesn't sound so crazy anymore."

Carolyn laughed too. "I want to go to Sydney. An old friend of mine lives there and she says it's an amazing place to visit. So that's where I'd go."

Meredith nodded and smiled. "Craziest moment?"

Carolyn continued to laugh. "My husband and I, we decided to try out bungee jumping. This was of course, before we had kids. But it was pretty crazy. And pretty amazing. You?"

Meredith shrugged. "I back packed across Europe with a friend of mine. Visited so many places, on so little money. It was an experience I'll never forget."

They continued small talk for hours. It was reaching midnight when they had started to calm down.

"I don't know how to thank you enough for all of this," Meredith said. She had been very thankful for Carolyn and her mother bear instincts. She could still be out on a bench if it hadn't been for her.

"No need. I've missed having someone around to talk to. All my children are moved out, and other than my two youngest, they live a little bit everywhere around to country. I needed someone to take care of again."

Meredith nodded.

"Well I'm heading off to bed," Carolyn said with a yawn. "We'll see you in the morning. My daughter and her family are coming over for a little bit. She's about your age. It may give you somebody else to confide in."

Meredith smiled and thanked Carolyn again before they both headed to their rooms.

_Her children are some lucky to have a mother like her._

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Being an intern made your biological clock go wild. And being in a different time zone made things even worse. Which meant that Meredith spent most of the night awake.

It was close to three in the morning when she heard her phone vibrating. She was debating on whether to pick up or not. She fumbled to find it in her purse and when she finally pulled it out, she decided that she owed her best friend some sort of explanation.

"Meredith! I've been calling for like two days now? Where the hell are you?" Cristina sounded almost worried.

"I'm okay and that's all you need to know," she answered.

"Bailey's pissed, Webber is more worried that he should be and Shepherd looks like a lost puppy. He won't even look at Montgomery."

Meredith felt a pang of guilt as she realized that she had probably just been a big part of ruining their relationship for good. But Derek was the one who started it. So she shouldn't feel as guilty as she did. She almost felt bad for the She-Shepherd.

"I slept with him," Meredith blurted accidentally. She didn't mean to, but it just came out.

"You what? When?"

"Prom," she answered sheepishly.

"No wonder!" she exclaimed. "Montgomery is catching on. It looks like she knows something is up."

Meredith shook her head even though she knew her best friend couldn't see her.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not going back to Seattle."

"Umm, Mer, I hate to break it to you, but you're going to have to sometime..."

"Why?" she asked, almost mad that her friend didn't understand why she couldn't go near the place that had caused her so much pain in the last year.

"First of all, all of your clothes and stuff is here. You'll need it eventually."

"I'll hire someone to send it all out to me."

"Plus, you can't just leave in the middle of you internship," Cristina tried to argue.

"I'll get a transfer."

"It's not that easy Mer."

"And did you forget who my mother is? I can play the card since my mother was never good for anything else."

There was a silence at the other end of the line.

"I can't go back Cristina."

"What about us?" she then heard Cristina whisper. "What about your family? We're your family! You can't just leave us hanging. We need you! Izzie needs you! Denny just died. She's broken. And I mean _really _broken. And it's just so hard without you." Meredith didn't recognize the weakness in her person's voice. She didn't know how to answer that.

"I'll think about Cris. But right now..."

"I get it. Bye." She didn't even give Meredith a chance to say goodbye. She just hung up.

Meredith hung up and decided she'd check her messages. It said twenty one missed calls. There were five from Cristina, three from George, one from her mother's home, two from Richard, one from Bailey, one from Alex, three from Finn and five from Derek. And of course, each person had left at least one message. Cristina's, Alex's and Bailey's said something about getting her ass back to work or to the house. George's sounded like a soap opera and Richard's two messages were filled with concern. She didn't have the heart to listen to any of Finn's or Derek's. She'd deal with them later.

She tossed her phone back onto her bag and decided she still needed to sleep. And finally, the blackness she had been longing for took over.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith awoke to the sunlight in her window the next morning. She breathed a breath of fresh air and smiled as she realized it was sunny out. There was never sun in Seattle. But she could definitely get used to the sun.

The clock in her room read 9:08. It was the perfect time to get up. She went through her bag and grabbed a pair of jeans and a nice t-shirt and headed down the stairs. She was greeted by the smell of pancakes.

"Good morning," Carolyn called when she saw Meredith walk in. "Sleep well?"

Meredith smirked. "Still not on the right time zone."

Carolyn nodded, but didn't ask any questions. She would open up when she felt comfortable, she decided.

"Pancakes?" she asked as she added some to the plate that was already pilled high. "I make them every time my grandchildren come around. They love them. They say that I make the best pancakes in the world. Better than their mommies." Meredith couldn't help but smile. She turned down the pancakes for now, saying that she couldn't eat this early in the morning. Carolyn nodded.

"I'm the same way. I usually just wait and eat with them. You can join us. Natalie, my daughter, she'll be here too and maybe you guys could get to know each other."

Meredith just nodded as she took a drink of the water that Carolyn had offered her.

It was then that they heard the front door open and a choir of laughs and little voices came through the house. Meredith didn't know how to react. Sure, she liked kids, but there were a lot of them.

"Grandma!" they exclaimed as they ran up to her and gave her a hug, as a group. Carolyn just laughed as all of her grandkids came in a bunch, then left again. They all headed down the stairs.

"Lots of toys down there," Carolyn said with a laugh. Meredith just nodded.

Natalie, the woman Meredith recognized from the day before, came in looking exhausted, carrying a little girl in her arms.

"Hey mom," she said as she gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. She turned around and when she saw Meredith sitting there, she smiled. "And you must be Meredith."

Meredith nodded.

"I'm Natalie and that was my group of munchkins that just ran through here."

"It's nice to meet you," Meredith answered.

Carolyn and Natalie got to talking and were only able to get a few words in before the kids all came running up for pancakes. Meredith was introduced to all of them, and they all seemed to be good kids. Breakfast went by fast as Carolyn asked them about school and sports.

"I'm sorry to rush out like this," Natalie apologized after breakfast, "but Ben and Lucas have swimming in half an hour. Makeup practice."

Carolyn just nodded, completely understanding. She brought up five kids. She knew how busy it could get.

"I'll call sometime in the next few days," Natalie said as she headed for the door. "And it was very nice meeting you Meredith. Maybe we could get together without all the screaming and noise and get to know each other better."

Meredith smiled. She liked Natalie. A lot. She reminded her somewhat of Izzie, with a little bit of Cristina. "Sounds good."

And then it got very quiet.

"Can you hear that?" Carolyn asked after Natalie had pulled out with her kids.

"Hear what?" Meredith asked.

"Nothing," Carolyn answered with a smile. "It gets so quiet."

Meredith laughed.

"I've gotten used to it, because when I have big family get togethers, we're over twenty people, almost thirty, but the silence is just so nice afterwards."

Meredith nodded. "I can imagine."

Carolyn had suggested giving Meredith a tour of the city. Meredith had agreed, wanting to get out of the house. It happened so rarely that she had nothing to do, so staying in a house for over twenty four hours happened on very rare occasions.

They visited most of the city, and after a few hours of just roaming the streets, they decided it was time they head back to the house. While heading upstairs to 'her room', the picture wall caught her attention again. Or more, the missing picture.

"My son," Carolyn answered. "His wedding picture was there. But things haven't been going well. And although he won't admit it, it hasn't been going well for quite a while. So it's been down for a few months now. He tried telling me that they were working it out, but I know him. And I knew that when he called me yesterday and told me that he signed the papers, I knew that I was right to take down the picture."

Meredith just nodded as she continued up the steps. She didn't think about Carolyn's son's story much, but at least it had solved her mystery about the missing picture.

When she got back into the room she was staying in, she flopped down on the bed. It was then that a picture she hadn't noticed before caught her attention. As she got closer, she noticed it was a picture of two little boys and an older man. They were fishing. But it wasn't the older man that caught Meredith's attention. It wasn't the beautiful lake or the big fish that was on the ground beside them. It was the curly black hair and the smile. The smile that she had seen on Carolyn's face. And on Natalie's. And then she gasped.

It was the same smile she had fallen in love with.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's, but I do own another awesome story that you guys should all check out (:**

"Oh God! Oh no no no...This can't be happening! This can't be real! This is... this just...no..."

Meredith was freaking out. And I mean, truly freaking out. This wasn't just an 'I forgot I had a date tonight' freak out. She couldn't feel her legs. Everything was going numb. Her mind was blurring. She couldn't see straight. She couldn't move. She just stared blankly at the photo in front of her. Derek's photo.

She was in his home. His room. This was his family. His mom. Talk about meeting the family unexpectedly. She couldn't just march downstairs and pretend nothing was completely wrong with this situation. But she couldn't tell Carolyn either. She would hate her for sure. She was the home wrecker. She was one of the reasons for Addison and Derek's failed marriage. And moms didn't like her to begin with. This wasn't going to help.

She needed to pretend nothing was happening. She knew she'd have trouble with ignoring the fact that Derek lived here, slept in the bed she was just sleeping in and that the woman who had been so nice to her was Derek's mother. He was lucky, to have been brought up by someone so loving and caring. She hated him even more right now.

But she knew she needed to go downstairs. She could do this. She could face anything life threw at her. She wasn't afraid of 'what if's,' she was going to face them head on. And she would keep everything to herself until she felt it necessary to tell someone, which she hoped would never happen. She could keep secrets. But one this big?

She put her jacket back in her bag and headed back towards the kitchen, erasing all evidence of her freak out, and of the secret she just unveiled. She could in fact do this. But she was suddenly stopped in her tracks when she was half way down the stairs and her eyes once again noticed the empty nail. She could picture the two people who once were so happy in the photograph that used to be in this spot.

"Meredith, are you okay?"

Meredith spun around quickly and noticed Carolyn staring at her, a confused expression on her face.

"Yeah, I'm… I'm fine. But I'm not feeling too good. I think I'm just going to grab an apple or something and head to bed."

Carolyn shook her head. "Nonsense. I made supper. You can eat some of my lasagna, then you can head to bed. You need meals."

Meredith smiled as she thought about how much of an amazing mother Carolyn would have been to her. Much better than Ellis.

"Sure," she answered as she made her way down the rest of the stairs.

They each grabbed a serving of lasagna along with a glass of milk and made their way to the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"You're very quiet tonight," Carolyn commented after about ten minutes of silence. Meredith looked up.

"We've spent the day talking, I'm all talked out," she used as an excuse.

Carolyn nodded. "I still don't know you all that well. Where do you live? What do you do for a living?"

Meredith didn't know how to answer. So she said the truth.

"I'm from Seattle, and I'm a doctor, well an intern."

Carolyn seemed surprised. "My son is a doctor in Seattle!" she exclaimed. "He works at Seattle Grace. You might know him!"

Meredith felt the lump build in her throat. "I work at Seattle Pres, and as interns we don't associate much with doctors from other hospitals."

Carolyn nodded. "I thought I'd give it a shot," she answered with a laugh.

Meredith smiled, her best fake smile that she had perfected over the years.

"Thank you for supper Carolyn, but I'm still not feeling all that good, so I think I'm going to call it a night."

Carolyn smiled. "Goodnight Meredith."

Meredith smiled back. "Goodnight."

IOIOIOIOiOIOIOIOIOIOI

It had taken her a while to fall asleep, but when she finally did, she was out for good. Meredith only woke up later on the next day, and according to her clock, it was a little after ten.

She felt refreshed, and knew that today, she would manage to keep a straight face during any conversation and at any time Carolyn brought up Derek. He was a thing of the past, and nobody needed to know that. She could move on now that she didn't have to see him every day, all the time. It was going to be okay.

She made her way to the kitchen where she found a note on the counter.

_Meredith,_

_Had to do some running around. Will be back before lunch. Natalie called and wants you to call her back on her cell. She told me you have the number. If you're not home when I get back, I hope you have a nice day._

_Carolyn_

Meredith couldn't help but feel like a little girl again, having that motherly figure that she never had. Ellis Grey didn't leave notes. She just hoped Meredith didn't burn the house while she was gone.

She decided she'd call Natalie right away. Maybe it would be easier to spend some time with her, since they hadn't gone over all the things her and Carolyn had gone over. They'd have other things to talk about that didn't involve her past and why she was here. It could be a good start to a new day.

"Hello, Natalie?" Meredith said as the call went through.

"Yupp. Who am I speaking to?"

"It's Meredith…"

"Meredith!" she exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd call."

Meredith laughed. "Well I did." She enjoyed knowing that she had someone to have a good time with here in New York. Carolyn was great, but she needed someone her own age.

"I was wondering if you'd like to meet me for lunch?"

Meredith smiled to herself. "Sure. When and where?"

Natalie hesitated. "I'm sort of working today, so it would have to be either the hospital or the restaurant across the street. And hospital food isn't usually the greatest, so I apologize."

Meredith laughed. "That's alright. I live off of hospital food."

Natalie didn't understand, but she decided she'd ask later.

"So how bout twelve in the cafeteria at New York Presbyterian hospital?"

Meredith smiled. "Sounds good. See you then!"

With that, Meredith hung up and went to get ready.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Not knowing exactly where she was going, Meredith decided to leave early. But it hadn't been as hard as she thought to find the hospital. Carolyn had given Meredith full access to the second car, an old Honda, and this was the first time Meredith had given it any use.

She made it there a little before twelve, but headed down to where the cafeteria was anyway. She was glad when she saw Natalie reading a chart alone at one of the more secluded tables.

"Charts suck," Natalie mumbled to herself as Meredith approached.

"Tell me about it," Meredith added with a smirk. Natalie jumped and placed a hand on her heart.

"You scared me!" she exclaimed.

Meredith laughed. "Your mom's been doing the same thing to me since I've been here. It was time I try it on someone else."

Natalie laughed. "Do you want to go grab something to eat?"

Meredith nodded.

They got in the lineup and started chatting away like long lost friends. Natalie finally inquired on what had been bugging her since their phone call.

"You said something about how you were used to hospital food, then complained about charts. You don't happen to be a doctor, or a nurse, or something like that?"

Meredith nodded. "Intern, well I was before I ran out here. But I'm not sure what's going to happen now, with me missing part of my internship."

"Well if you're planning on staying out here for a while, I could pull some strings and talk to the chief of surgery here, maybe get you in. You could be my intern!"

Meredith laughed. "I don't want you to go through a bunch of trouble –"

Natalie cut her off. "Trouble? The chief is my uncle. I don't have much trouble with him."

Meredith smiled. "Then it would be greatly appreciated."

They grabbed their trays and headed back to the table where Natalie had just been sitting.

"So are you liking New York?" she asked.

Meredith nodded. "I do actually. I haven't been here very long, but I'm thinking of staying out here. Get someone to send out my stuff, start a new life here."

Natalie nodded. "If you're not comfortable talking about it, you don't need to answer, but I was wondering why you ran out here anyway."

Meredith knew that if she explained the story, there was a chance that Natalie caught on to the whole situation, so she shook her head.

"It's still a little too early. It still hurts to think about it. Maybe a little longer?"

Natalie nodded. "Of course, I don't want to feel like I'm intruding. I'm just very curious."

"It's okay, I know what – "

Suddenly she was interrupted by a booming voice coming from behind her.

"Nat, did you hear? Derek and Addie signed the papers. Addie called me this morning…"

Natalie nodded with a smile. "Mom told me. He'll finally be able to move on…" she trailed off as she remembered Meredith was sitting there. "I'm sorry. My brother just got divorced. And I'm being rude. Meredith, meet Mark Sloan."

Meredith hadn't turned around to see the person who had come by, but she didn't need to now that Natalie had introduced them. _Crap,_ she thought. _Secret ends here._

She turned around hesitantly and Mark just looked at her in disbelief, and then laughed. "Out of all people I could run into with one of the Shepherd sisters, you were the last to come to mind."

Meredith smirked. "You don't know me well enough to judge."

Natalie was confused. "Hold on a second!" she exclaimed. "You two already know each other?"

Mark laughed and looked at Meredith. "They don't know?" When Meredith shook her head, Mark just laughed even harder.

"Know what?" Natalie asked.

"Nothing," Meredith tried to avoid this discussion, but she knew it was nearly impossible.

"Grey here is the co-founder of the dirty mistress's club. My partner in crime."

Natalie's eyes widened. "Oh my God… oh my… Meredith Grey. You're…"

Mark laughed. "Sorry Grey." He grabbed a chair, knowing this wasn't something he wanted to miss.

"Look, this doesn't leave here, got it Mark?"

Mark sealed his lips. Natalie was still in shock.

"You're the love of his life," she whispered. "He … he…"

Meredith shook her head. "No, I'm the dirty mistress who is getting out of his life."

Natalie looked her in the eye. "No, you can't. You'll break his heart. He's in love with you."

Meredith couldn't let herself get hope in something she didn't know for sure. "How do you know?"

"He told me himself," she answered in a matter-of-factly voice.

"Derek told me he wasn't talking to his family, afraid of what you guys thought."

Natalie smirked. "We talk, at least once a month. Most of the time once a week. And he's told me all about you. He won't shut up about you. Even just last week, he told me about how he was thinking of officially ending it with Addison so he could beg you for forgiveness and pray you take him back."

Meredith just looked at her, incredulous. She was making this up, she was sure of it.

"I'm like his personal diary, except I can tell him how I feel about everything he says. And I've been telling him Addie was wrong for him since, well forever. I'm actually glad Mark is a total idiot man whore who knocked some sense into Derek."

"Hey," Mark said, faking his pain. "That's not nice."

Meredith laughed. "I've got to say, you deserved it."

Natalie nodded. "Agreed. Thank you Mark."

"No problem…?" he answered, unsure.

Natalie refocused her attention on Meredith. "So have you known we're his family this entire time, or was it a total surprise?"

Meredith looked at Natalie, who looked totally interested in finding out more, but sincere, as if she wouldn't repeat a thing she said.

"Something about you guys seemed familiar, mostly the smile you guys all have, but I didn't put the pieces together until last night. I found a picture, and that's when it all made sense. I can't believe I didn't figure it out earlier."

Mark pated her on the back. "So Carolyn doesn't know?"

Meredith shook her head. "And she won't find out. Because then she'll hate me. And I have nowhere else to go."

Natalie shook her head. "That's not true. You can come stay with me. I loved you before I met you, because my big brother loves you." Something in Natalie's eyes suddenly changed. "He's the reason you ran out here, isn't he? That's why you said you weren't ready to tell me? Because you knew I'd figure it out!"

Meredith nodded sheepishly. "How'd you know?"

Natalie shrugged. "Our oldest sister Kathleen is a psychiatrist. I guess she rubbed off on us, her weird understanding of people."

Mark agreed with Natalie and the three of them started eating, Mark picking at Natalie's food.

"Meredith, I can't believe you're… you! I mean, that the person my mom took in is Derek's love. You need to tell her. She's going to love you even more."

Meredith shook her head. "No she'll hate me. I'm one of the main reason's Derek and Addison are divorcing – "

"Divorced," Mark corrected.

Meredith glared at him. "Either way, I'm one of the reasons they ended, so she'll look at me like the person who broke them up."

Just then, Mark's pager went off and he excused himself, promising to keep his mouth shut and saying they'd have to get together again. Meredith and Natalie agreed and Mark went off with a wave.

"I'm actually glad he got paged, because then I can talk to you knowing he's not listening to our every word and giving his opinion, cause I'm sure he'd have something to say with what I'm about to tell you."

Meredith just nodded as she waited for Natalie to start.

"Addie, Mark and Derek used to be best friends. And when they were friends, we loved them all. But when Derek and Addison started dating, we all started liking Addie less and less, except Nancy, who is one of Addie's best friends. I like her the least out of everyone. Amy and Mom were close behind, and Kathleen was sort of on edge. But I just didn't see what Derek saw in her. But we didn't say anything.

"When we started seeing Derek and Addison drifting, I wanted to talk to Derek about it, but he was always too busy with work. And then Derek caught Mark and Addison in bed and Derek disappeared. He called me to tell me where he was, but made me promise not to tell anyone else. And I didn't. Then he met you, and told me all about you, and how wonderful you were, and I totally agree with him now that I've met you. Anyway, when he told me about how Addison just showed up, I told him it was all wrong, that the two of them didn't belong together. He told me they were giving it one last try, but when he started telling me about something and said 'Meredith' instead of 'Addison' I called him out. That's when he started confiding his inner thoughts and secrets. I'm the only one who knew that he wasn't with Addison out of respect for her and their marriage, but it was actually to give you some room so you could decide on what you wanted, without you feeling pressure from him. But Meredith, take my advice now. Go get him! He loves you more than most men are capable of loving. Doesn't that mean something to you?"

Meredith didn't know how to answer. When Natalie saw that she was at loss of words, she just nodded.

"Take your time Meredith. Derek won't be able to find someone else like you, so he'll still be there once you've decided. He'll always be there."

**TADAH ! That didn't take as long to update as the last time, did it ? P:**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own much to be honest P:**

**I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the few people who reviewed. It means a lot !**

Meredith almost felt relieved that Natalie and Mark knew. It made things just a little bit easier. She couldn't keep lying to everyone, and although she didn't enjoy having to lie to Carolyn, she couldn't tell her right away what was going on, couldn't tell her the truth about her and Derek.

Natalie understood Meredith's decision. She realized that it was a really hard decision to make. All of the decisions she needed to make were tough. But she had gotten to really know Meredith since their lunch in the cafeteria and Natalie knew she'd make the right decision when the time came. But right now, she just needed friends to help her out, and that's what Natalie and Mark were. Friends Meredith could always run to.

Meredith surprised herself with the friendships she had built. Natalie was amazing, completely understanding but also sarcastic and fun to be around. She was exactly what Meredith felt she needed right now. And Mark. Meredith still thought about how weird it was that she had become almost best friends with the man that Derek had grown up with, the man that Derek thought of as his brother. He was also the man that had pushed Derek to her. But with her and Mark, it was nothing like Natalie had warned her it would be like. She had warned her that Mark had a tendency of being a man whore with everyone. Except Meredith shocked Natalie when she had told her that Mark hadn't tried anything with her. He barely even flirted.

Natalie just laughed. "I bet you it's cause he doesn't want to piss Derek off even more if he were to find out that the man that ruined his marriage slept with the current love of his life."

Meredith went quiet, and then replied. "Derek would never find out, because he won't talk to Mark anymore and I'm definitely not talking to him.

Natalie shrugged. "Not right now, anyway."

Meredith had also gotten the chance to meet Amy, Derek and Natalie's youngest sister. She also lived nearby, but not quite as close as Natalie. Natalie lived in the same block as her mother, whereas Amy lived about forty five minutes away, and that was when the traffic was quiet. She usually visited with her kids about once a week, so Meredith had the delight of meeting her a few days after her arrival to New York. But Amy knew nothing about her situation, just like Carolyn knew nothing.

Carolyn was glad to see that Meredith had become such good friends with her daughter and Mark. She had forgiven Mark for what he had done, just as long as he promised he would never do anything like that again. And unlike Derek, she still treated Mark as part of the family. She saw it the same way Natalie did; Mark had almost done Derek and the family a favor. She knew Addison and Derek weren't right for each other since the day he had announced that they were getting engaged. She didn't say anything, of course, and she regretted it now. But Mark was able to make things right, even though he had done it the wrong way.

She was curious though as to what was going on between Mark and Meredith. She noticed, one night as they were eating supper with Amy, her family, Natalie, her family and Mark that he treated her differently then he treated most women. He treated her pretty much the same way he treated Natalie, as a little sister. But Carolyn knew it wasn't like Mark to stay away from such an attractive young woman.

"So, what's going on between you and Mark?" Carolyn asked with a smirk as Meredith helped her with the dishes one evening, about a week and a half after her arrival.

Meredith hadn't been prepared, but she laughed nervously. "What do you mean?"

Carolyn rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. I mean … It's Mark. Has he tried … you know…"

Meredith laughed. "No, not yet. But Natalie already warned me. And I think she warned him too."

Carolyn laughed. "He really is a good guy, he just doesn't believe in settling down I guess."

Meredith smiled. "Don't worry, there is nothing going on between me and Mark."

Carolyn nodded. "Good, because I would be very worried about you if there was."

Meredith laughed in response. They continued the dishes in that comfortable silence.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

It had been exactly three weeks since her arrival in New York. She had some of her more important stuff shipped over, and she had decided to take Natalie's offer and continue her internship at NY Pres. It was only temporary for now, and with Richard's consent, she was able to get all of her papers transferred to the chief of surgery here. The first thing that Dr Gregory Shepherd noticed when he received the papers wasn't the hospital she had been transferred from, but who her mother was.

"She must be proud of you, following in her footsteps."

"Maybe," Meredith replied with a shrug, even though she knew the answer to that. Her mother thought she was still five and that she was a complete mistake. Proud wasn't the word her mother would have used to describe what she felt for her daughter.

She was still staying at Carolyn's, still in Derek's room, but she was looking for an apartment of her own. Close by, yes, but she felt like she was overcrowding the older woman who wasn't used to having a house guest around for such a long period of time. And although Meredith had started really loving Carolyn and all that she was doing for her, keeping the secret was getting harder and harder. She felt like she needed to tell her the truth, she knew she should, but she just wasn't sure how she would do it.

Natalie was helping her in her quest for an apartment, but they spent more time fooling around then apartment searching. She felt like a whole new person around Natalie, and things were so much easier. But she had to admit, she missed her person.

"Meredith, are you crazy?" Meredith had barely had the chance to say hello and Cristina was already furious.

"What are you talking about?"

"Izzie told me the moving people had come to your place today. You weren't kidding when you said that you'd just get your stuff shipped out."

Meredith took a deep breath. "I need a fresh start Cristina. Things are really going well out here and I need to just think about what I want in life before making any big decisions."

Cristina scoffed. "Big decisions? You just moved across the country!"

"It's for the best."

"You're ruining everything Meredith! What about your career?"

"I just got a transfer. I can finish my internship here, then I'll decide where to go from there."

"Used the Ellis Grey's daughter excuse?"

"Didn't have to," Meredith smirked over the phone. "Natalie was able to pull some strings for me."

"Natalie?" Cristina asked. Meredith hadn't told her person much of anything about her new life, but she felt like today was the day she'd explain. She knew Cristina wouldn't tell Derek anything because Cristina didn't like Derek.

"She's been one of my really good friends out here. It's actually her mother who brought me in."

Meredith had already told Cristina about Carolyn, but just that she was a very sweet lady who treated her like a daughter.

"So you've replaced me?" Cristina asked, sounding more angry than sad.

"No Cristina! I'll never replace you!"

There was silence at the other end of the line.

"Cristina, it's just, things have been crazy here too, and I'm just getting used to it all. Natalie helped me with that."

"How could things be crazy there when you haven't even been there a month? Is finding a new place that hard?"

Meredith laughed. "It's not finding a new place that's causing me trouble. You want to know something? One of my closest friends here other than Natalie is McSteamy."

"Wha.. what? McSteamy?"

"Yeah," Meredith said. "You want to know something else? Natalie is Derek's sister."

"WHAT?" Cristina couldn't believe this. "This isn't funny Meredith."

"Could I make that up?"

Cristina didn't answer. "Hold up… you said Natalie was Carolyn's daughter… which means, you're staying with Derek's mom!"

"You can't say a word. If Derek found out…"

"Derek's a mess Meredith. He's a mess. And wouldn't he know by now? I'm sure his family has told him."

"Natalie and Mark are the only ones who know…" Meredith couldn't help but think about what Cristina had just informed her of. _Natalie was right…_

"You're shacking it up with McSteamy, aren't you? That's why you can't tell McDreamy where you are!"

Meredith giggled. "No way Cristina. There's nothing going on between me and Mark. Carolyn asked me the same thing just last week."

Cristina sighed. "Well things suck over here. George and Izzie have taken over your place, but neither one of them will go near your room. Izzie's recovering slowly from losing Denny, but she still hasn't come back to the hospital. George and Callie are getting pretty serious and it's giving me the creeps. Alex is still an evil spawn. Shepherd and Montgomery are either at each other's throats or are wallowing in their misery. And Burke is talking about the future. I'm not the get married type of girl. I'm a hard core surgeon. Relationships just get in the way."

Meredith sighed. "I do miss you guys," she admitted. "Maybe I'll come down sometime, for a quick visit. Just as long as Derek doesn't find out."

"He won't. I'll make sure of it."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"I talked to Cristina last night," Meredith told Natalie the next day during their lunch break. Usually the three of them would sit together, which completely blew away the other interns, because one of them was sitting with a resident and an attending. Meredith smirked when she noticed them staring, knowing that they were all jealous. But today Mark was still in surgery, so he wouldn't be joining them.

"I take it she's mad?" Natalie said. Although she didn't know Cristina personally, she felt like she knew her from all the things Meredith had told her. She could also tell by the way Meredith spoke about her that she missed her a lot.

"Yeah… I told her about how you were Derek's sister and that I was friends with Mark."

Natalie seemed shocked. "Doesn't she work with Derek? Aren't you afraid she'll let it slip?"

Meredith shook her head. "Cristina isn't one for gossip. She could care less about what Derek knew and didn't know. She doesn't like him all that much anyway, especially after he picked Addison…"

Natalie nodded. "I didn't like him all that much either when he picked Addison, and he's my brother. But now that I know he's in love with the perfect person, I like him again." She finished with a big smile, and Meredith just shook her head.

"He's probably given up on me by now. I've been gone three weeks."

Natalie shook her head. "I'm glad Mark isn't with us right now, because he doesn't need to hear this." She paused and looked Meredith straight in the eyes. "He called for the first time since you've been here. He hadn't called it's been over a month, but he called last night. I asked him how things were going, telling him I had heard the divorce had been finalized, but that it was better that way. He knew how I meant it since I was the first one he told when he was planning the divorce, about two weeks before he actually did it. Anyway, he agreed, and that's when he told me you had gone missing. I did my best acting and asked him the twenty questions necessary when someone tells you that something you love has gone missing. He told me how he would never be able to find someone he loves as much as he loves you. That he won't be able to live properly until he has you back with him. He told me how he would fly across the country for you, and I couldn't help but think about how appropriate that comment was. He loves you Meredith. He still loves you, and that's got to mean something."

Meredith nodded. "I miss him," she admitted for the first time. Natalie smiled. "I do, it's just that, I don't know if I trust him enough to get into something serious with him. He lied to me. About being married. That's something that would rock any girl's heart when it came to a man. I was the dirty mistress without even knowing it. Do you know how bad I felt when Addison introduced herself as Derek's wife? I broke on the spot. I had just started trusting him, just started opening up to him, and he does something like keep the fact that he is married from me? I was devastated."

Natalie put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "You'll make the right choice, I know you will."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Carolyn was sitting in the living room later that afternoon, thinking about what was going on in her own life, when she heard the front door open. She had been in a very good mood, in fact, she was over the moon with the current situation in her own life, that she didn't notice the expression on Meredith's face until she approached.

"Meredith dear, what's wrong?" she asked.

Meredith looked at the woman before her, one who had treated her so well for the last three weeks and who she wasn't even able to tell the truth. She thought about karma, and how it really sucked in that instant. She also knew that she needed to tell her the truth. She was going to tell her the truth.

But that wasn't the reason she was in such a mess.

"Meredith, come sit down with me," she invited her.

"I can't believe this," Meredith mumbled, more to herself. But Carolyn heard her.

"You can talk to me hun," Carolyn said as she placed her hand on the small of her back.

"I made a really big mistake, the night I flew out here," Meredith started, looking Carolyn in the eye. "I've been trying my best to forget about it, and it was working, sort of. And I was sure things were getting better. But… but…"

Meredith burst into tears.

"Shh it's okay… it's okay…"

Meredith shook her head. "No it's not. I lived most of my life without a father. And I would never, ever want that for someone else. But…"

Carolyn knew where this was going.

"Oh Meredith," she brought her in a tight embrace.

Meredith didn't know how she was going to do this. But she knew she would make it through all of it.

Her baby wasn't going to live the life she had lived.

**WHAT ?**

**Didn't see that coming, did ya's ?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Never was. Never will be. **

_She was pregnant. Pregnant. Why me? Why now? Things were just starting to get easy. Why did happiness always have to come with a price?_

"Meredith, it's going to be okay. Things will turn out okay."

Meredith shook her head. "No they won't! I know what it's like to live without a father. I don't want someone else to live that life. Especially not on my behalf! The father... he's in Seattle. All the way on the other side of the country and he will know nothing about this, ever. I can't... I can't do this..."

Carolyn just looked at her with sad eyes. "I will help you through this Meredith. I will stay at your side throughout it all. You're not going to go through this alone."

Meredith felt a pang of guilt as she realized that the woman before her was her baby's grandmother. Biologically, not just in her mind. She needed someone to help her through this, but at the same time, she needed Carolyn to know the truth.

"Have you told anybody?" Carolyn asked.

Meredith nodded. "The baby's grandmother knows." She was hoping she'd eventually get the hint.

"I thought you didn't speak to your mother?"

Meredith shook her head. "Paternal grandmother. I just told her."

Carolyn nodded. "Well then, do you want me to talk to her? Make sure she understands that you don't want her son involved?"

Meredith shook her head. "You don't get it..." she mumbled.

"Get what?"

Meredith took a deep breath. "The baby's father... Derek Shepherd is the father... and I know you think I'm crazy... but I swear, I'm telling the truth. You're the baby's grandmother." Meredith burst into tears.

Carolyn couldn't believe her ears. Had she just said what she thought she said? Was this truly the woman Derek had been telling her about, the one he was so deeply in love with? _Meredith Grey... _How come she didn't clue in earlier?

"Meredith... I... I..."

"I know you must hate me right now," Meredith said between sobs. "I'm the one who ruined his marriage, I'm the slutty intern I'm... I'm sorry..."

Carolyn shook her head. "There's nothing to be sorry for Meredith. And I could never hate you. You're the love of his life! And you're already like a daughter to me! I couldn't be more delighted!"

"Why is everybody so convinced he still loves me? Natalie and Mark keep saying the same thing."

"Natalie and Mark know?"

Meredith nodded. "I had met Mark in Seattle. He had come out for Addison... when he found me with Natalie, he had to open his big mouth and tell her. But they don't know about the baby."

"How long have you known, that we were his family?"

Meredith lowered her head. "Since the second day I was here... I'm so sorry I didn't say anything earlier... I was afraid of how you would react."

"Meredith, I understand. Your needed to keep it away from me. You didn't want Derek to be the reason you lost another family."

Meredith thought about it, and nodded. "Yeah, something like that."

"But Meredith, I do wish you tell him. He's wanted to start a family since he was eight. He deserves to know that the woman he loves is carrying his baby."

Meredith nodded. "I'll think about it."

"That's all I'm asking."

Meredith got up. "Thank you Carolyn. For being there for me. I'm going to go out for a little bit. Clear my mind. Maybe I'll go for a walk down by the lake."

Carolyn nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. I'll be here if you need me."

Meredith smiled. "Thank you."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Like Meredith, Carolyn had a lot to think about. She was about to have another grandchild, one her son didn't even know about. She wasn't going to intrude, or tell Meredith what she should do, but if worse came to worse, she'd talk to Mark and Natalie and get that girl to talk to Derek.

_What were the chances? _Carolyn asked herself. When she had found Meredith on the bench, she had this sudden pull towards her, like she knew there was a reason she needed to take her to her home. But she had never imagined that this was what it was going to be. Meredith was the woman Derek couldn't stop telling her about. When he had called just a few days before, he had said no more than a few words about the divorce, but spoke so lovingly about the woman who had disappeared on him. How she hadn't put the puzzle pieces together, she didn't know.

"I still don't get why I can't sleep in my own room," a voice said that made her jump out from her thoughts. She turned around and smiled.

"I have a houseguest that is using your room. Natalie's room is just as comfortable as yours anyway."

"Yeah but it's not mine."

Carolyn laughed. "Just as stubborn as you have always been I see," she said as she scooted over to make room.

He sat down. "You know it."

There were a few moments of silence before Carolyn decided to speak up. "Derek, why did you come out here?"

Her son shrugged. "I don't know. I felt like I needed to get away from everything going on in my life, and I missed you and the girls. I thought I might as well kill two birds with one stone."

Carolyn nodded.

"And there's something else," he admitted. "I felt this pull towards here, as if it had the answers I've been looking for. I haven't discovered them yet, but I'm sure I will."

_You have no idea, _Carolyn thought.

"Do the girls know I'm here?" he asked.

"No, I haven't told anybody about your surprise visit." She thought about how Meredith had just admitted to the secret she had been keeping, and in return Carolyn kept a secret just as big from her. But she would find out soon enough.

Derek nodded. "I think I'm going to go take a shower and get refreshed, then head over to Nat's. I talked to her yesterday, and I think I owe her a visit tonight. She's been giving me a lot of hope, especially when it comes to Meredith..."

"Oh yeah?" Carolyn asked.

"Yeah. She told me not to give up and that maybe Meredith just needed some time. I can give her time. She'll come around eventually. I just know it."

Carolyn smiled. "It's good to see you're staying optimistic."

Derek nodded. "Optimism is good."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Her walk had turned into a visit to Natalie's. She didn't need to think. Thinking brought up some bad thoughts. She decided she'd play things by ear and see how they went. Surprises in life could sometimes be good, right?

She hadn't expected to see Mark when she opened the door. He was in the living room with Natalie's boys, playing with their hot wheels cars.

"Hey," he said when he noticed her. "Nat's in the kitchen."

Meredith said a quick thank you and headed down the hallway to where she would find Natalie.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Meredith shrugged. "Needed to escape."

"From Mom?"

Meredith paused before telling Natalie. "I told her."

Natalie put down her spatula. "You told her?"

"I told her."

Natalie turned off the stove and came to sit beside Meredith, who had taken a seat at the island beside the sink. "How did she react?"

"She said she was delighted I was the one Derek had fallen in love with," Meredith said, still in bewilderment. "I was sure she would hate me, yet..."

"I told you!"

"I know, you told me she wouldn't hate me, but – "

Natalie cut her off. "Not only did I tell you she would still love you, I also told you Derek was still in love with you. Why won't you believe any of us?"

Meredith shrugged. "Maybe I don't want to get my hopes up. Maybe I'm scared that if I truly believe he loves me, and then find out he's with someone else, I will be so hurt that I'll suffocate. Maybe –"

"You still love him too, don't you?"

Meredith looked into Natalie's eyes. "I think I do."

Natalie squealed and pulled Meredith in for a hug. "I knew it! I am so smart."

Meredith laughed. "You were right Nat. I'm sorry for ever having doubted you."

Natalie smirked. "I think you knew it all along too, you just didn't want to admit it to me."

"Maybe."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Mark had been having a great time with his nephews while Natalie and Meredith talked. His nieces were out with Cory, and they were supposed to be home in time for supper. But Mark felt lucky to get to spend some quality guy time with the boys.

As Lucas and Ben started creating a junk yard with all the cars they had 'crashed', the doorbell rang. Not wanting to interrupt the girl chat, he decided he'd go answer it.

"I got it," he called out as he got up. But when he opened the door, he hadn't been prepared for who was standing on the doorstep.

"Derek…?" he said, shocked.

"Mark," Derek glared at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for supper, spending some time with the family."

"They're my family, not yours," Derek said in an angry tone.

"They still like me, and they are convinced I'm still their family, so I'll let it stay that way. Now it's my turn to ask; what are you doing here?"

Derek shook his head. "It doesn't matter why I'm here."

Mark nodded slowly. "I know you hate me and all, but you have to admit, if it wasn't for me, you never would have met the true love of your life."

Derek snorted. "It doesn't matter. She's gone missing and I've tried everything to find her. She's not coming back."

It was at that moment that Mark realized that Derek and Meredith were in the same house and neither one of them knew it. _This could get interesting._

"Hey, why don't you sit down with the boys and I'll go get Natalie."

Derek nodded and walked in to find his nephews sitting on the ground.

Mark made a beeline for the kitchen, almost in panic mode.

"Natalie, could I talk to you for a sec?"

Natalie looked at Mark and knew right away that something was up.

"I'll be right back," she promised Meredith as she followed Mark out into the hallway. "What's got your panties all in a bundle?"

Mark shook his head. "You will never guess who is in the living room playing with your sons."

"Mark, did you let some stranger in?" Natalie said with a laugh.

They turned the corner and Mark looked over his shoulder to see the expression on Natalie's face when she noticed her brother sitting on her living room floor. It went from excited, to panic when she realized who was sitting in her kitchen.

"Derek…" she said in a whisper of disbelief. "What… what are…"

Derek laughed. "It's nice to see you too."

He took her into his arms and gave her a tight squeeze. And although Natalie was absolutely thrilled to see her big brother, her mind kept drifting to Meredith, who hadn't had the chance to prepare herself.

"How are things?" Natalie asked, trying not to let her worried expression show. She would make sure to visit Meredith in just a few moments.

"Things suck, but being here makes it a little easier to deal with."

Natalie nodded. "Are you staying at mom's?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah, but it seems someone has taken over my room so I'm stuck with yours. She says it's a house guest, but I haven't seen anyone there."

"She's got a life," Natalie shrugged it off, as if it was nothing.

"It's a girl?" Derek asked, wanting to know more about the person who stole his room.

"Yeah, and I think she's your type," Mark said with a laugh. Natalie gave him a death glare and he stopped laughing right away.

"I don't care what you think Mark. I'll never love anyone ever again. Meredith was it for me, and now she's who knows where."

Natalie nodded slowly. "Don't give up hope yet DerBear. I'm sure you'll find her."

"I doubt it."

There was an awkward silence as Natalie and Mark shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm going to go use the washroom," Derek broke the silence and left before either of them could say anything.

"What do we do?" Mark asked as soon as Derek was out of earshot.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking… we can't just go up to Meredith and be like 'hey guess what? Derek's here.' That is definitely not an option. But we need to tell her."

"What if we don't do anything and let them find each other. I mean, they're in the same house. It's bound to happen before the end of the night."

Natalie didn't know how to react. "Maybe," was all she said.

They stood there silently, completely oblivious to what was happening down the hall.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

As soon as Derek had gotten away from his sister and Mark, he realized that he didn't actually need to go to the bathroom, he had just needed to escape. He made his way down the hall, past the bathroom to where the kitchen was. He felt thirsty all of a sudden and didn't think his sister would mind if he grabbed himself a glass of water.

They had been acting strange, Derek had observed, but he couldn't figure out if it was just from surprise of seeing him, or if there was something else going on. And Mark's comment about his mom's houseguest had something more to it than they wanted him to believe. Something smelt fishy, but he couldn't place it.

As he turned into the kitchen, he smelt a sudden wave of a familiar smell. A flower, he thought. A specific flower. The smell was a smell he had gotten so used to waking up to, a smell that made him quiver. Including now. _Just my mind playing tricks on me, _he thought.

But when he spotted the blonde hair and the petite figure of the woman sitting at the island, he felt his knees give out. _I'm dreaming, _he told himself. _I'll wake up any minute now, and it'll hurt even more._ But he didn't wake up. It wasn't a dream, he realized.

"Meredith…" his voice came out shaky and very inaudible. But he saw the figure tense up at the sound of his voice. It was her.

She turned around slowly, and when she noticed the man standing in front of her, her eyes became the size of golf balls. She didn't say anything.

"Bu… but… how… why…?" He was still in shock. She was sitting there, blood and flesh, not just an illusion. She was sitting there. In his sister's kitchen… his sister's kitchen?

"Derek…" she said and shook her head. "No… no … no…. this cannot be happening… I… I… I'm sorry."

Before he had the chance to react she was up and ran out the kitchen door. He chased after her.

"Meredith!" he called out. He made it to the living room, where Mark and Natalie stood, looking very worried.

"Where'd she go? Is she okay?"

Natalie nodded. "She's fine. Just give her time."

In that moment Derek realized something. "You guys knew… the two of you. You stood here looking all… you knew she was here!"

Natalie put her hands on her brother's shoulders. "We didn't want to get involved more than we needed to. You guys needed to find each other on your own."

Derek shook his head. "How… how long have you known? How long as she been here?"

Natalie took a deep breath before she answered. "Three weeks," she admitted.

Derek was furious. "You've known for three weeks and you didn't tell me? All this time? I called you last night, and I went on and on about how much I missed her and how I would never be able to move on, and you knew where she was? You kept that away from me?"

Natalie wanted to answer, but she wasn't given the chance. "Derek –"

"No, that's it. I'm gone." And with that he went to the front door and slammed it behind him.

"What's wrong with Uncle Derek?" Lucas asked as he came up to his mom.

"He's mad because I kept a very big secret from him."

"Is it about Auntie Meredith?" Ben then asked.

Natalie smiled at the way her children had started calling her Auntie. "Yes, it is."

"Will he be okay?"

Natalie didn't know the answer. "I sure hope so."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"Derek hun, what's wrong?" Carolyn asked when she noticed her son pacing in the living room. When she had heard the door slam, she had come running to see what was wrong.

Derek looked like someone had ran over his dog. He just kept pacing for a few moments, and when he stopped and looked up at her, the tears highlighted the pain in his eyes. She also saw rage, although it was masked behind the pain.

"You knew too! You knew she was here! She's staying here, and you didn't tell me! I can't believe that Natalie kept something like that from me, but you? I thought you loved me? I thought that I could count on you for the truth!"

Carolyn realized he had figured out who their house guest was. "Derek, I assure you. I only found out today, moments before you got up, that she was the Meredith you loved. I haven't known as long as Natalie and Mark. I'm sorry…"

Derek just shook his head. "This isn't right, this isn't right… It just doesn't make sense. How?"

Carolyn looked into her sons eyes as she spoke. "I found her sleeping outside of the airport. Something told me that I needed to help her out. She's been staying with me since that night."

Derek just sobbed into his hands. Carolyn stayed quiet.

Eventually, he broke the silence. "I'm going to bed."

Carolyn nodded. She understood that his emotions had drained him and that he needed to sleep on it.

Derek made his way up the stairs and when he passed his bedroom, he couldn't help but stop. The door was slightly open, but when he took a quick look through the crack, he noticed that Meredith wasn't there. _Where could she be?_

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith made her way out of the bathroom after she heard the door slam and headed towards the living room. She had just spent the last five minutes emptying the contents of her stomach, a mixture of the late afternoon morning sickness, combined with the shock of what had just happened.

She found Natalie comforting her sons when she made her way into the living room. Mark was pacing, looking much more serious than he usually did.

"Meredith!" Natalie exclaimed as she looked up and saw that Meredith had joined them. Mark stopped pacing and looked up too.

"I… I'm sorry… for all of that…"

Natalie shook her head. "It is nowhere near your fault. It is ours. We didn't tell Derek. We thought we'd try it on luck."

"Luck is crap. And I'm sorry he scared you guys," she said as she got down to the boys level. "Remember he still loves you, even when he's mad. And it is in no way your faults either."

The boys nodded and gave Meredith a quick hug before running off to find their toys.

"I take it you heard all of it?" Mark asked as he brought Meredith in for a comforting hug.

She nodded. "Every word."

She heard Mark sigh. "It's going to work out."

There was a short silence. But Natalie ended it.

"Now do you believe me when I say he's still in love with you?"

**So Derek is in NY, with Meredith... what will happen next? Continue reading to find out !**


	6. Chapter 6

Derek woke up, panting and drenched in sweat. He couldn't explain what had gotten into him. Some things were just, unexplainable. He stared at the ceiling, knowing there was very little chance he'd get anymore sleep.

Meredith. He had been searching for her for almost a month now, and all this time she had been with the people he loved the most. His family. He couldn't believe it. It was just so, off.

But it didn't matter now. He would have his chance at getting her back. She was so close he couldn't imagine not having his chance. She was there, in this very house, or at Natalie's, but she was there. And he wasn't leaving New York until he knew she would be his.

He pushed himself from the bed and got up. He slipped on a pair of gym pants, since all he was wearing was his boxers. He opened his door and made his way down the hallway. When he reached his actual room, he couldn't help but do the same as he had the night before and take a glance. Still, there was no Meredith.

Although it was dark, Derek had no trouble finding his way to the kitchen. The only light he had once he made it to his destination was the light from the clock on the stove that read 2:07. It was definitely going to be a very long night.

He opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice from the back, along with a yogurt. He thought about eating it there, but decided he'd be better off heading back up to the room so he wouldn't wake up his mom, whose room was right beside the kitchen.

He grabbed his yogurt in one hand and his juice in the other. He made his way towards the stairs with only one thought in mind. _Where's Meredith?_

"This place has become like a second home to me," he heard the very familiar voice coming from the living room. He nearly dropped everything he had in his hands. But he stayed as calm as he could. "I should have prepared myself for a surprise visit from you. I mean, they're your family. It was bound to happen." Derek took a hesitant step towards the location the voice was coming from. "I just hadn't expected it so soon."

"Meredith..."

Derek set his stuff down on the corner table and continued to make his way towards the couch, where he could now faintly see the shape of her head, just a little higher than the top of the couch. He continued slowly and he made his way around the couch. His eyes had started to adjust to the dark and he felt his heart swell when he finally got a look of her, in her ratty Dartmouth t-shirt and an old pair of gym pants.

"I'm sorry," she started apologizing as she played with her fingers, "about earlier. I was caught by surprise and I did what I'm good at doing. I ran."

"I'm sorry for having caught you by surprise, but I was caught by surprise too. I didn't expect it. Didn't expect you to be sitting in my little sister's kitchen."

Derek sat down hesitantly, at the other end of the couch. Meredith lifted her legs up and wrapped her arms around them as she turned her body towards him.

They stayed quiet for several moments, but Derek took that opportunity to just look at her. Her blonde waves framed her face in such a beautiful way, even though her hair was in shambles. Her cheeks had just the slightest bit of colour, but it was just enough to make her radiant. And her lips. They were calling his name. But he kept himself from bouncing on her, from scaring her away for good. _Slow_, he told himself._ Keep it slow._

"I tried forgetting about you," Meredith spoke up. "I tried pushing you to the back of my mind. I wanted to forget about everything we had, forget about all the pain you had put me through. But I couldn't. I blamed it for the longest time on the fact that I was staying with your family, but I just realized, moments ago, that it was because I didn't want to forget about you. Because, although you put me through a lot of pain, you also showed me how to love, showed me how to be loved. I couldn't forget the first person I had ever really been in love with."

"Meredith... I... I..."

"I know, I ran, and things have changed. You've given up, because you don't know how to deal with someone who keeps disappearing, and you don't –"

"You have no idea what you're talking about Meredith," he cut her off. "I came out here because I thought I'd be able to camouflage the pain of having lost you with the joy of seeing my family. But the only thing I could talk to my family about was you. I would never ever give up on you. I can't, because I'm in love with you Meredith Grey. Can't you see that? I love you."

Meredith hesitated. "I... I... I'm not ... ready... I'm not ready for that yet."

Derek reached over and grabbed her hand. "It's okay. We've got all the time we need. I don't want to rush you into something you're not ready for, but I want you to know I'm not going anywhere. You're it for me."

He squeezed her hand and Meredith squeezed back. But then she let go. Derek didn't know what it meant. Why had she let go? Why couldn't she accept that this was just a friendly gesture?

She grabbed the blanket that was folded on the armrest and opened it up as she crawled across the couch. Derek noticed the smile on her face as she got close. He lifted his feet from the ground and spread himself out on the couch. Meredith quickly found her way into his arms.

The connection was automatic. Derek wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, and Meredith snuggled into his chest. The blanket covered the both of them. Just when Derek thought she had fallen asleep, he heard a faint giggle.

"What's got you laughing?" he asked, but he felt the smile build on his lips at the sound.

"Natalie is never going to let me hear the end of this one. She has spent the last three weeks trying to convince me that you still loved me, but I tried not to believe her. Do you know why?"

Derek ran one of his hands up the side of her body. "Why?"

"Because every time she mentioned it, I would go to sleep imagining us exactly like this. Comfortable with each other. As if I was seeing us exactly the way I wanted things to be. But I couldn't handle the thought that we might not of ever been like this again."

Derek tightened his grip around her. "How is New York treating you?"

Meredith waited a few seconds, as if she was thinking about how to answer, but then she spoke. "It's really nice here. I love being outside of the city though. I don't know how I'd handle living in the middle of all that noise."

Derek nodded into her back. "Have you decided whether you're going to stay here for good?"

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I do miss Seattle, and everyone in it, but I don't think I can handle going back right now. Besides, I need to stay here until the end of my internship. Doing two transfers would probably be too much."

"You're an intern at New York Pres?"

"Richard sent over my information and the chief here was delighted to have me join. I mean, I am Ellis Grey's daughter," she said with a giggle.

"You do realize he's my uncle..."

"How do you think I got in so easily? Natalie's the one who got me in. And made sure she was my resident."

Derek laughed. "I still can't believe you're best friends with my sister. Should I be afraid?"

Meredith giggled. "Natalie and Mark have been great friends. They've helped me through everything here."

Derek had tensed as soon as Meredith had said Mark's name. He didn't like the thought of him being friends with Meredith. Being friends with a girl for Mark meant nothing near 'being friends'.

"You've slept with him, haven't you?"

Meredith was caught by surprise. "What?"

Derek let go and sat up. "You've slept with Mark, haven't you?"

Meredith giggled. "I still see you're as jealous as can be."

Derek was about to get up and storm off. Things had gotten so drastically better in the last hour between them. He should have realized it was too good to be true.

"Derek, stop!" Meredith ordered as she grabbed his hand. Derek couldn't not stop and look at her. She had something to say, and Derek knew it was important he listen.

"Mark still thinks of you as his brother Derek. He realized he made a big mistake when he slept with Addison. He knows it was wrong and he would never do anything to ruin another one of your relationships." She paused and took a deep breath. "He told me this about a week after I got here. Your mom had asked me if we were seeing each other, and when I told Mark this, he shook his head and told me exactly what I just told you. He's not as much of a jerk as you think he is."

"So he hasn't tried to get you to sleep with him?"

"He hasn't done anything remotely near that. He doesn't even flirt with me. He wants your forgiveness and he wouldn't do anything that could get in the way of that."

Meredith could feel Derek relax. He automatically wrapped his arms back around her, and promised himself he would never let her go. He had found the one person he couldn't live without. He had lost her. And now, she was his again and he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Carolyn was up early that morning. She was usually an early riser, but this morning she was up early for a reason. Natalie and her had been going for early morning runs here and there for the past few months, and they had decided that today would be one of those days.

She decided that this would give her the chance to talk to her daughter about what was going on between Derek and Meredith. Minus the pregnancy part. She didn't know if Meredith told her, or was planning on it for that matter, so she would leave it out. But Natalie had known about Meredith and Derek's past all this time, so surely she knew more information than her mother.

She pulled on her blue track suit and grabbed her sneakers from the back of her closet. She made her way out of her room and stopped in the kitchen for a glass of water. She sat down, knowing Natalie would come in when she got there.

She couldn't help but think about how furious Derek had been the night before after finding out about Meredith. She hadn't heard Meredith come in last night, but she had a feeling that neither one of them got much sleep last night.

She decided she'd go wait in the living room instead, that way she could watch through the living room window for Natalie to arrive. But when she made her way into the spacious room, a smile crept onto her lips.

She found Derek and Meredith wrapped in each other's arms, sleeping peacefully. How they had lived without each other all this time, she didn't know. They seemed inseparable, like teenage lovers. Their time apart hadn't put a deep hole in their relationship like it would for most. It was then that Carolyn realized their time apart had been much longer than three weeks. Him and Addison had just divorced after Meredith had gotten here. Which meant that they hadn't been together since Addison had shown up in Seattle. They had been without each other for quite a while, yet within a night were able to find the happiness that once lay within them.

She caught a glance of Natalie walking past the window and rushed to the front door so she wouldn't make too much noise.

"Shhh," Carolyn instructed as she placed one finger over her lips as if to show her that she was serious.

"Why?" Natalie whispered as she let the door go softly behind her, as to not make any noise.

Carolyn motioned for her to follow.

When Natalie took in the scene, she felt her heart swell at the love. She had been telling Meredith all this time… _I guess she needed to figure it out on her own. _She pulled out her phone and with a devilish grin went to camera.

"What are you doing?" Carolyn whispered.

"Getting a picture. This is one for the memory books."

Carolyn couldn't help but giggle silently as Natalie took the picture. Soon, they were out in the driveway getting ready for the walk.

"I wonder how they ended up like that," Carolyn spoke aloud.

"Fate," was all Natalie said as she smirked. She knew it would happen, but she didn't expect it to happen so fast.

Carolyn smiled. "They seem so perfect for each other."

Natalie nodded. "From what I've heard each of them tell me, they are, and I know Derek can't live without her. And I have a feeling it's the same for Meredith."

"I might get another daughter. I mean, she's already like a daughter to me, but with Derek…"

"I heard Meredith told you about it yesterday. Derek had already been here when she told you I take it?"

Carolyn nodded. "He had been upstairs sleeping. It felt so unreal when she told me, and then I realized that I should have clued in earlier, but what were the chances?"

Natalie nodded. "I know what you mean. But they've found each other, and I know Meredith needs to stay in New York for at least a few more months, so she can finish her internship, so I have a feeling we'll have plenty of time to catch up with Derek. He's not leaving without her. I guarantee it."

"Do you think they might stay here permanently?" Carolyn asked.

Natalie shrugged. "They have a lot of friends back in Seattle, well at least Meredith does, so I don't know what will happen."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

After parting ways, Carolyn headed back into the house and noticed that Meredith and Derek were still both lying on the couch together, but there was one difference. Derek was awake.

He had been playing with her hair until he realized someone had come in. He looked up and when he saw Carolyn standing there with a smile on her lips, he let his own smile show just how happy he was. Carolyn made her way into the room and sat in the armchair beside them.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Carolyn said, as Derek continued to play with Meredith's hair. He had missed playing with it, it had been something he did often. The little things.

"It's okay mom," Derek answered. "Things turned out for the best anyway. We talked last night and got through some things. I can't say everything's swell and dandy just yet, but it's getting there."

Carolyn smiled as she placed her hand on Derek's shoulder. "You found her, on your own. That means something. It means that fate is on your side. Everything from here on will be for the two of you. Nothing can break you apart now."

Derek nodded at his mother's words. "I'm glad you're okay with this."

"Derek, I've never been more okay with a choice like this in my life when it came to you. She's such a strong, amazing woman. You deserve someone like her."

Carolyn started to get up. Derek watched her do so, but needed to thank her before she left. "You don't know how much your opinion means to me. If you had of told me that Addison wasn't right for me before we got married, I would never have done it."

"How did you-?"

"I know things," Derek answered with a smirk.

Carolyn nodded. She started heading towards the kitchen, when she turned around and looked her son in the eye. "Just one thing. Don't hurt her."

"I won't."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

When Meredith finally awoke, near ten o'clock, it took her a minute to remember where she was. She had remembered hearing Derek come downstairs late last night. She hadn't gone to bed before that. She had stayed downstairs all night to think about what was going on. But when she heard Derek, she knew what she needed to do. And they had talked. That was good.

However, she didn't remember falling asleep. And now that she was awake, she knew it had happened, and she knew she hadn't made it back up to her room.

She felt his arms around her and although she thought she should be a little panicked, she couldn't help but smile. Her heart had more power than her head at the moment. The feeling of being in Derek's arms had never been more reassuring than in that moment. It felt right.

She turned around in his arms, cautiously as to not fall off the small couch, so that she faced him. Her smile, along with his, got bigger when they realized the other was awake.

"Good morning," Derek said as he ran his hand up and down her back.

"Good morning," Meredith replied as she cuddled into his chest.

"How did you sleep last night?"

Meredith sighed. "Terribly. Until you came down."

Derek laughed. "It's good to know. I mean, not that you didn't sleep very well, but that you slept better with me."

"To be honest, it's the best sleep I've had since the night… where Addison showed up…"

Derek pulled away a little, just so he could see her face.

"Meredith… I didn't realize…"

Meredith shook her head. "It's not your fault. But you're here now, so I can catch up on all that sleep."

Derek let out a small laugh, but it felt a little forced.

Carolyn chose that moment to walk in. "I see everyone's awake."

Meredith scrambled quickly to sit up. "Carolyn, I swear, nothing happened. It just –"

Carolyn laughed. "I've talked to Derek this morning. I know how he feels, and I know that nothing happened last night. You two have a lot of things to talk about, and I hope everything works out between the two of you."

"You're okay… with … this?" Meredith asked, not sure what 'this' was quite yet.

"Derek is the happiest I've seen him in forever and that's just from having spent the night with you in his arms. If he's going to be remotely this happy with you around, I can't be more delighted. And for it to be you he loves, nothing can express how lucky _I _feel, let alone how he feels." She glanced at her son who had a huge grin on his face. "Now I'll let you two be." She rushed out before either one could stop her.

"I can't believe this…" Meredith mumbled. "Suddenly, my luck is turning."

"Well believe it!" Derek said with a laugh. "You're not getting rid of any of us, ever."

**I am so terribly sorry it took me so frigging long to update ! I have had so much on my plate these days it's starting to take away from the time I used to have for Fanfiction. But things are starting to calm down again... sort of, and hopefully I'll be able to update for often.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this little chapter, with it's happiness and everything. Yeah ... well... ummmm ... you know what to do !**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, so for those who read _Ever Ever After_ you've already heard my apology, but I still want to say that I'm absolutely terribly sorry for the long wait ! Life has been hectic and so on but I'm back now and hopefully you guys haven't given up . So ENJOY !**

"I found myself an apartment!" Meredith exclaimed as she ran into the house. She was overjoyed. After being in New York for over a month, she had finally found the perfect place. She couldn't find a thing about it she didn't like.

She ran into the kitchen where she was surprised to state that Carolyn, Natalie and Derek were all sitting. They all had their cups of coffee in hand and seemed to be just waking up. Meredith had just gotten off her twenty four hour shift, and had spent most of her night on call searching for an apartment.

Their faces all light up at the sight of Meredith's excited expression.

"Let's see!" Natalie exclaimed as she bounced off her chair and grabbed the papers from Meredith's hand. "Two bedroom apartment, fully furnished, 327 Hunter Rd... Hunter Road! That's at the corner!"

Meredith couldn't help but laugh at the look on Natalie's face. "Walking distance."

"This is amazing!"

Derek looked over to Carolyn. "Five kids. She has five kids yet she still manages to have all this energy at seven thirty in the morning."

Carolyn laughed. "You get used to it. Early mornings. You become a morning person."

Derek got up to refill his cup of coffee. "Would you like some Mer?" he asked.

She shook her head as she grabbed a glass from the counter. "No, I'm good with water. I want to sleep, remember?"

Derek laughed. "Good point."

Meredith plastered a fake smile on her face. That wasn't true. She could really use a good cup of steaming hot coffee. But she wouldn't. She was pregnant. Coffee and pregnancies didn't go well together.

Even after two weeks since Derek's arrival, Meredith hadn't found the courage to tell him. She hadn't told anybody but Carolyn. But she knew she would, and soon. Things were going well with her and Derek. They had decided that they would do the whole dating thing. No sexual activities period. They hadn't even had a simple kiss. Baby steps. Tiny little baby steps. The opposite from their last relationship. They needed to take things slow, Meredith wanted to take things slow. She wanted to make sure that once she told him her news, he would hear her through. She wanted to make sure he wouldn't run. Carolyn assured her he wouldn't, but she wasn't taking any chances.

"So I've been offered a position at New York Pres," Derek brought up nonchalantly, as if it were nothing more than informing them he had brought in the mail.

"That's great!" Meredith exclaimed.

This reassured Derek. He now knew that she wanted him around. That was why he had looked into it, talked to his uncle. He wanted to be wherever Meredith was. And at the time being, that was New York. So he'd be here. "I'm going in tomorrow morning for the whole initiation thing. The tour, the information that needs to be known about the hospital. It's as if the old guy thinks I've never been there before." NY Pres had been the hospital that Derek had done his internship at. He had spent a good chunk of his adult life in the halls of the hospital. Apparently, his uncle hadn't known, or just hadn't remembered that fact.

"My shift starts at eight tomorrow," Meredith said as she took a seat beside Carolyn who was now looking at the information on Meredith's new apartment. "We could car pool."

Derek smiled as he returned to his seat, the one that was right beside Meredith. "That sounds like a great idea."

"My shift also starts at eight tomorrow," Natalie said. "I'll bring my car so that way Derek can use one of the two if he wants to head in earlier. Your shift ends tomorrow night at eight, right."

Meredith nodded.

"Perfect!" Derek exclaimed.

Carolyn handed the sheets back to Meredith before excusing herself saying she was heading out for the morning. Meredith barely had the chance to even touch them before Derek had decided he'd take a look.

"What's picked your interest?" Meredith asked.

"I need to see if it fits my standards."

Meredith raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Derek laughed and Meredith noticed the devilish grin and the spark in his eye. She knew she'd regret his answer before it came out.

"Because, who knows, in the future I could be spending a lot of my nights there."

Natalie just giggled at Meredith's expression.

Meredith ripped the sheets away from him and crossed her arms on her chest. She put the 'I'm not too impressed with you' look on her face and Derek couldn't help but laugh at the expression.

"You know I'm just playing with you," he said as he brought her in for a friendly hug. "But, you never know…"

Meredith took advantage of his proximity and elbowed him playfully in the gut. Derek let out a wretched sound, and Natalie couldn't help but laugh at the victorious grin that now spread widely across Meredith's face.

"That'll show you who to mess with," Natalie said as she and Meredith laughed.

"Here," Meredith said as she passed him back the sheets. "I guess it might as well get your approval."

Derek laughed. He knew it had all been in fun and games. He had also learnt that even if her fists were tiny and ineffectual, she could still kill a man.

"Two bedrooms?" he asked. "Are you planning on having guests?"

Meredith shrugged, not wanting to reveal to him the true reason for the second bedroom quite yet. "Maybe. Why? Do you think I won't have any?"

"Oh, I know you'll have at least one," he answered. "But he won't want to have to use the guest room. He's got better sleeping arrangements in mind."

"So you guys seriously haven't done anything?" Natalie asked, still not believing that the two hadn't even slept in the same room since that night on the couch.

"Nope," Meredith answered as she and Natalie glanced towards Derek.

"Nothing? I mean, I won't judge or anything. Cause I know that it's not like you guys haven't done anything in the past. I know why Meredith is –"

Meredith held her breathe. How did she know? She had only told Carolyn about her being pregnant... Natalie looked over to her and noticed the look.

"-here," Natalie finished. glancing back at Meredith. That had definetly been a better statement than what Meredith thought she was going to say. But Derek didn't take it too well.

"You told her?" Derek asked, incredulous. "You told my sister?"

Meredith slouched. "Derek, if there's one thing I've learnt about Natalie in the past month is that she reads people very easily. I didn't say anything, she guessed it."

Natalie, in fact, had guessed the reason Meredith had run off that night oh so long ago. She had guessed that Derek had done something, and when she had overheard the end of a conversation between the two, her suspicions had been confirmed.

"_Meredith, what happened… Addison knows. I needed to have a clear conscious. That's when she signed the papers."_

"_That doesn't change that it happened. It changes things between us. That's why this time we're not starting off with sex."_

Derek's voice brought her back to reality. "Fine."

"No sex… Meredith doesn't seem too bad. You, on the other hand," she said pointing to Derek," seem to be off. Your needs not being fulfilled?"

Derek grunted. "Shut up Nat."

Natalie and Meredith giggled. Derek didn't pay attention to his sister anymore. His eyes and mind were all on Meredith. Her perfect body. Her perfect, naked body, underneath his. Feeling her curves, running his hands along her body… it was too much to think about.

"I'm going to go… take a shower," he announced. _A cold shower. A very cold shower._

"You have fun in there," Natalie called out behind him.

"I won't," he replied, half way up the stairs.

Natalie turned to Meredith with a chuckle. "Why are you making him suffer?"

Meredith shook her head. "It's not for his suffering that I'm doing this. It's for me. I don't know if I'm ready for it just yet…"

Natalie gave her a puzzled look. "I thought that the two of started that way in the beginning?"

"Yeah, but things have changed since then. Things are different. I'm different." Natalie wanted a better explanation, and Meredith knew it. "When it all started, Derek was nothing more than a stranger to me, someone I thought I'd never see again. I didn't think anything of it. But then he was my boss, and we started seeing each other and then Addison showed up, and he picked her and then there was everything in between. We're not strangers anymore. We're two people who might have a future together – "

"Will have a future together," Natalie corrected.

"_Might_ have a future together and that changes things, that changes how we start this relationship." _Oh, and I'm carrying his child, so it's different this time around, _Meredith thought to herself, but that wasn't something she was ready to share just yet.

Natalie nodded. "I hope everything works out. I mean, you're pretty much like a sister to me anyway, but could you imagine? Actually being my sister?"

Meredith giggled. "Let's not go there right now. I've only met you and Amy. I don't know if I can handle big families just yet."

Natalie smiled. "You didn't argue my comment. You know you're bound to join the family. You know that this is it, that you and Derek are forever."

A smile graced Meredith's features. "If I could have my way…"

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith had gone to bed shortly after her morning chat with Natalie. She had slept quite well, knowing Derek was there in spirit. He was always there in spirit. Or so he had told her. Wherever she was, Derek was with her. She thought it had been pretty corny in the beginning, but it had definitely helped her get through some pretty tough days along with some long nights.

When she awoke, her clock informed her it was a little after four. She decided she'd head downstairs to see if there was anyone around. Wasn't she surprised when she reached the kitchen and it was overflowing with people. Carolyn, Natalie and Amy were sitting at the island, chatting and giggling. Cory and Julian, Natalie and Amy's husbands', were also with them, but didn't seem to be all that interested in the conversation. All of Natalie's kids, along with Amy's two, were running around giggling and screaming, glad to be all together. Meredith smiled at all the enthusiasm in the room.

"Where's Derek?" she asked as she approached the group of adults, who immediately looked up and invited her to take a seat.

"Him and Mark went out to get the load of pizza's we ordered," Natalie answered. She then laughed at the expression on Meredith's face. "Hard to believe, huh?"

Mark and Derek had started talking since Derek was here, but nothing major. Current events, sports, typical men conversations. But never had they gone and done something together if they weren't forced to. "Are we talking about the same two guys here?"

Amy laughed. "I had the same reactions when I got here."

"I think they've finally come to the realization that what Mark did is in fact something they don't need to argue over anymore," Carolyn said. "It led Derek to you, didn't it? He should be thankful towards Mark."

Meredith giggled slightly. "Derek accused me of having slept with Mark. That first night. When I mentioned how good of friends I had become with Nat and Mark, he was sure I had slept with him. But when I told him that Mark would never do something like that again, that he had learnt from his mistakes, I think Derek really truly believed me and realized that Mark had grown from it."

The others seemed perplexed. Natalie was the first to speak. "He… Derek thought you had slept with Mark?"

Meredith nodded. "But I assured him Mark was being very responsible and avoiding anything that Derek could use against him."

They all laughed. Just then, they heard the front door open, then Mark's booming voice. "Who wants pizza?"

Mark and Derek appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, followed by the crowd of little ones and their excited expressions.

"There's plenty," Derek said as he set down his two boxes and the large salad. Mark set down the other three boxes beside Derek's. "You'd think we were feeding a small army."

Carolyn laughed. "Nope, just half of the family."

Everyone chuckled. "You've been gone too long to remember the amount of food we can go through."

Derek shook his head. "No I still remembering there being two turkeys at our Christmas suppers."

"We've reached three now," Mark corrected. Everyone laughed.

Everyone started eating, and enjoying themselves. The kids all went downstairs to the kids room where a table had been set up for their supper. The adults sat around the kitchen table and enjoyed the light hearted chitchat and conversation topics changed within minutes.

"So I heard we have a new fellow coworker?" Amy asked. She too was a doctor at New York Pres. She was a second year resident, whereas Nat was in her fourth year.

Mark patted Derek on the back. "Can't wait to have him around again."

Derek smiled. "I can't wait to be back," he answered as he stared at Meredith who was seated across the table. She smiled back.

"Derek, New York Pres isn't quite the same as Seattle Grace. It's quite boring actually when it comes to drama," Mark warned him.

Derek laughed. "I think I could use a break from drama for a little while."

Meredith couldn't help but feel her heart tighten at the thought of what she had to tell him, and how he might not want it. Carolyn, who was seated to her right, noticed this and rested her hand on Meredith's lap to assure her everything would be okay. Nobody else noticed this exchange.

"Speaking of drama," Mark started to change the topic once again, "how is our favorite couple?"

Meredith could feel all the stares on her. Including Derek's. "Hey! It takes two for any relationship. Why is everyone looking at me?"

Gazes shifted towards Derek in one motion. "Geeze, thanks a lot Mer."

"Not a problem," she answered with her best smirk.

Derek smiled. "Things are good."

"How good?" Amy asked.

Meredith giggled. "They're good."

Derek couldn't help but keep his gaze on her and Meredith's eyes were glued to the ones of the man she loved.

"You guys are starting to make me sick," Mark said with a laugh. "To much love for me."

Everyone laughed.

"It's good to see that everything has fixed itself," Carolyn said. "It's good to see everyone so happy."

Natalie agreed. "Happy is good. And I have a feeling things will just keep getting better."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

It had been an hour since everyone had left. Amy and her family had been the first to go, them having the longest drive to get home. Mark wasn't far behind. Cory had gone home with the kids at about eight, not wanting them to go to bed too late. Natalie had stayed a little while, then had gone home too. The only ones left were Meredith, Derek and Carolyn, but Carolyn had decided on an early night and was now in bed.

"So when are you moving?" Derek asked as he and Meredith sat on the couch watching a random movie that happened to be on. Meredith was laying in front of him, much like during their first night spent on that very couch, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Soon probably. The apartment is officially mine on Tuesday. I'll start moving in after that."

"And when will you invite me over?"

Meredith giggled. "You could always come over for supper once I'm all done unpacking and completely moved in. I could also invite Carolyn and Nat. Maybe even Mark and Amy."

Derek grunted which made Meredith giggle even more.

"It'll happen when it happens Derek."

He nodded into her back as he kissed the nape of her neck.

"Derek…" Meredith whispered as she closed her eyes. She could feel the goose bumps the small action had caused rising on her arms.

He spun her around and Meredith didn't have time to protest before his lips came crashing down on hers. Time stopped. Meredith didn't pull away like Derek had expected. The kiss was magical. All at once passionate and lusty, it was soft and filled with love and tenderness. Like no other kiss they had shared. Usually, their kisses had been urgent. They had never felt so amazing.

When finally Meredith pulled back, Derek was delighted to see the smile on her face. This was the start of something wonderful.

"That was…" Meredith started, but couldn't find the words to describe their moment.

"That was –"

Derek was interrupted by the sound of Meredith's cell phone. She giggled as she reached into her pocket and they both sat up, Derek's arms not leaving their position around her waist.

"Hello?"

"Mer!" Cristina's voice boomed on the other line. "You'll never guess what I just found out."

Meredith hadn't talked to Cristina since she had informed her that she was staying in New York and that she was living with Derek's family. Cristina was too upset with her person to bother calling, and Meredith too overwhelmed with everything that was going on with Derek.

"What?" Meredith asked, trying to sound excited. But having Derek holding her reminded her that Cristina had interrupted a very important moment.

"Well the chief just announced that the position for Head of Neuro has been replaced. McDreamy's gone. And not just vacation gone. He's gone gone and he's not coming back. Which means you can come back Mer! You don't have to worry about seeing him in the halls or being alone with him on elevators. You can come back!"

Meredith giggled as Derek shook his head at everything Cristina was saying. He could hear every word of what was being said on the other line.

"Cristina, I can't just pack up and go back. Things are finally really good here and I'm just getting used to everything. I can't just go back."

"But we really need you here Mer!" Cristina exclaimed. "We all miss you. We want you back. And the chief is willing to let you transfer again. We talked to him."

"You guys talked to the chief about me?"

"Meredith, we want you back. And Shepherd's gone. What is it that is keeping you in New York?"

"I have a family here Cristina! I mean, I know you guys are my family, but I have people here that love me even after everything that has gone on. They know about me, they know about my past, yet they only see me for who I am. And I'm happy. I found the one person who truly makes me the happiest woman alive." Meredith turned towards Derek as she said this.

"So the family you are living with is okay with you having some guy walk into your life even when they know their son is absolutely in love with you?"

Meredith was about to answer, but Derek took the phone from her hand.

"Dr Yang, the Shepherd family is delighted to know that they've gained a new family member."

There was a long silence at the other end of the line. Meredith couldn't help but giggle.

"Shepherd?" Cristina finally answered, in disbelief.

"I hope the new guy doesn't cause as much drama as I did at that place," he said with a laugh. "And don't worry, Meredith knows I'm not at Seattle Grace anymore."

"How… what… put Meredith back on the phone."

Derek passed the phone back to Meredith as he mouthed a good luck. Meredith smiled.

"Cristina, I can explain –"

"What the hell? Or how the hell?"

"It's his family. He came to visit them, and I had been found. Things are good right now Cristina, and Derek, he's a big part of that. We've gone through everything and things, they're good. Really good."

Cristina sighed. "I knew it would happen eventually. McDreamy, you're an ass you know?" she asked a little bit louder, knowing Derek was listening.

Derek laughed.

"Oh, he knows," Meredith answered as she said goodbye and hung up.

"Now, where were we?" Derek asked as they both smiled and they found each other's lips so easily, it was as if they had never been apart.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the lack in updates. But I won't bore you. Straight to the story !**

The car ride to the hospital had been fairly quiet. Not a bad quiet. A comfortable, good quiet. Derek had decided he'd drive so Meredith sat in the passenger seat. Derek had one hand on the steering wheel, the other was holding Meredith's. Meredith couldn't help but smile at the small gesture, the little things that could mean so much.

When they arrived, they happened to park right next to Natalie's car, and she was getting out too. They walked in together, the three of them, and heads turned when some recognized the well known, hotshot doctor.

"Good morning Uncle Greg," Derek said as his uncle came to meet them by the nurse's station. It didn't take Greg very long to notice the way Derek was discreetly touching Meredith's waist.

"I see you have taken no time in getting to know your mothers guest," he said with a wink. Meredith and Natalie giggled.

"Actually, chief, we go way back," Meredith explained. "Derek and I… we have history."

Greg nodded. "Well, dating fellow surgeons isn't necessarily frowned upon here, but I will hear nothing of flings and whatever else you children are into these days."

"Don't worry, they're a steady couple," Natalie said. "You won't have to worry about anything. I've got it all under control."

Greg laughed. "Natalie's got everything under control… I should really keep an eye on you guys then. The three of you. Nat, you're in charge of giving your brother the tour. Here's the key to your office. It's the third one on the right."

Derek thanked him, and added that he wouldn't be needing the tour. "I did my internship here, remember? I think I know my way around."

The three of them then went separate ways, Meredith to the intern locker room to get changed, Natalie to the resident locker room and Derek to his new office, where he found scrubs and a lab coat waiting for him.

As he headed back down towards the nurses' station where he was to meet Nat, Meredith and his sister's other interns, he heard a voice call out for him from behind.

"Derek? Derek Shepherd?"

He turned around and laughed as he recognized Michael Taylor. Michael had been the fourth member in the intern group. Although he didn't have the friendship the three others did, he had definitely fit in. They had been the crazy ones. The ones always getting in trouble.

"The one and only," Derek answered with his McDreamy smile. The two men shared a brief man hug, and Michael shook his head.

"What are you doing here?" he finally asked.

"Well, long story," he said with a chuckle. "I had come out here to see the family after Addison and I finalized our divorce and –"

"You and Addie divorced?" he asked.

"Yeah, I found her sleeping with Mark and then things just went downhill from there."

"It seems I've missed a lot."

Derek nodded. "Anyway, I fell in love, with an intern back in Seattle. I know, that doesn't sound very convincing, a midlife crisis is what people called it, but I was actually falling for her, and hard. And then Addie showed up in Seattle and things were messy. But just last month, she had disappeared and I cracked, thinking I'd never find her and I'd live a miserable life until the end of my days. I decided it was time to visit my family. Was I surprised when I found out the love of my life was living with my mother and was best friends with Natalie and Mark. So, I'm here, because she's here, and I'll go anywhere she goes."

Michael nodded, showing he understood. He then thought of something. "You said an intern, and that she was friends with Natalie and Mark. Meredith Grey, am I right?"

Derek smiled brightly. "The one and only."

Michael smiled. "She seems like a very nice person. I've had her on my service several times. She has started showing an interest in peds since the Neuro guy left two weeks ago. But now that you're here, I guess I've probably lost my best intern."

Derek laughed. "She's into neuro?"

Michael nodded. "Very few first year residents think about their specialty. But Meredith… she knows."

Derek smirked. "Good to know."

Michael started to walk off, but turned around before getting too far. "We'll have to catch up sometime over cafeteria food."

Derek laughed. "Sounds good."

It wasn't long after that that he found himself at the nurse's station, waiting for Natalie and Meredith. A few interns also seemed to be waiting for someone. _Probably Natalie's other interns._

One of the two looked over towards him and smiled. "Dr Derek Shepherd," she said. "I'm a big fan of your work. It's an honor to meet you."

Derek smiled. "Thank you," He didn't know how else to reply to that. "Are you two Dr Shepherd-Jay's interns?"

They nodded. "I'm Melissa Greene, and this is Julia Monroe," the intern who had first approached him said. "Trevor Blaine and Meredith Grey are Natalie's other interns. We're the only two female interns this year, other than Grey."

Derek nodded, enjoying getting to know his new coworkers. He had a feeling he'd get plenty of chances to get to know them better, especially them being around Natalie and Meredith most of the time.

Meredith came up behind the other two and before anybody had a chance to say anything, Natalie was with them too. She glanced at her watch, then looked at her three interns. "Where's Dr Blaine?"

Meredith spoke up. "He was heading into the locker room as I was coming out. He shouldn't be long."

Natalie nodded. "Well he'll catch up when he decides to make an appearance." She handed them each a few charts. "Rounds and introductions. Everyone, this is Dr -"

"Dr Derek Shepherd," Melissa answered with a flirty smile. "We know."

Derek smiled slightly, realizing that the intern was hitting on him. Meredith gave him a look, and Derek noticed the smirk on her lips.

Natalie looked back and forth between her interns and her brother. "Um, Dr Greene…"

She didn't have the chance to warn her about her actions before they were all paged.

"Trauma coming into the pit," she said as they all rushed down towards the ER.

When they got to the ER, they all went their ways to help where they could. Derek had no problem fitting in, especially since a lot of the older doctors knew him.

"Shepherd?" Isaac O'Connor asked as he noticed him. Isaac was the head of trauma, and had been a second year resident when Derek had started his internship. "You're back!"

Derek smirked. "Yes I am."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"What a morning!" Melissa exclaimed as she took a seat with her tray of food at one of the many tables in the cafeteria.

"I can't believe Trevor got in on a surgery, and we all got sutures," Julia said as she took a seat too.

"Yeah," Meredith mumbled. Trevor wasn't the only one who had gotten in a surgery. Mark, Natalie and Derek all got surgeries, but with the amount of interns, there was no need for them.

"What a suckish morning," Julia added.

Melissa smirked. "I don't know…"

Meredith and Julia arched their eyebrows.

"We did get the chance to meet Dr Shepherd… that made my day."

Meredith nearly choked on her drink.

Julia seemed interested. "Where is this going?"

Meredith didn't know if she wanted to hear what was coming. It wasn't very often she spent much time with the best friends Melissa and Julia, but when neither Mark nor Natalie were around, she usually resorted to them.

Melissa shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, he's an attending, a god, and we're just interns. If he were less of a hot shot, I'm sure I'd be able to get my hands on him. But I mean, he probably just looks at interns with nothing more than a laugh."

Julia shrugged. "I think he has his eye on you."

Melissa beamed. "Really? You think so?"

Julia shrugged. "Maybe."

Melissa looked at Meredith. "You're friends with Mark and Natalie. You've surely had the chance to get to know Dr Shepherd a little."

Meredith didn't know what to answer. Had she gotten to know Derek? The man who she was spending all of her nights thinking about. The man who had stolen her heart. The man who was so in love with her, and that she felt herself falling for faster than she thought she could handle. The man… the father of the baby growing inside of her… "He's never usually around. Catching up on lost time in New York I guess."

The other two nodded, oblivious to the expression on Meredith's face.

Her head was spinning. She felt noxious all of a sudden. Like she was going to burst at any moment now and heave her lunch all over the floor.

"You don't look so good Grey," Natalie's voice caught her by surprise. She had suddenly appeared, standing between Melissa and Julia, and had a worried expression on her face.

Meredith grabbed the paper bag that her sandwich had come in just in time. Her lunch came spilling out. The three women just watched, perplexed as she filled the bag.

"Meredith, are you okay?" Derek's voice came from behind her. He knelt down in front of her and grabbed her hand in his. Meredith looked up into his worried eyes, but Melissa's expression caught her attention. Switching from worried to confused, she nearly snarled as Derek wrapped his other arm around her waist.

"You lied…" she mumbled, venom clear in her voice.

Meredith couldn't handle it. She got up and ran to the garbage can near the door. She finished emptying the contents of her stomach. After exchanging a quick glance, Derek and Natalie rushed over to her side.

Natalie shook her head as she realized something she hadn't thought before. "Oh my god Meredith, are you pregnant!"

Meredith responded by throwing up some more.

Natalie looked at Derek.

"Go find me an empty exam room," she ordered. Derek just stared at Meredith, not sure how to react.

"Meredith…" he mumbled.

"Now!" Natalie exclaimed.

Derek nodded slowly as he made his way out of the cafeteria and towards the hall.

"Meredith, are you okay?"

Meredith was now standing over the garbage can, her hair falling lightly out of her ponytail. She was taking deep breaths, not sure what to tell her.

She nodded. "I'm fine."

Natalie shook her head. "I don't care. You're going to lie down in an exam room and let me take care of you. We'll figure out what's up."

Meredith looked at her with incredulous eyes. "What do you mean, 'we'll figure out what's up?'Didn't you make that distinctively obvious when you just threw it out there?" she said, anger clear in her voice.

Natalie's mouth dropped slightly, as she looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Holy crap! You are pregnant! Oh my… oh my… how… what… crap?"

Meredith groaned. "This is not how I wanted Derek to find out. He's going to freak. He's going to –"

Natalie suddenly realized what she had just done. "Derek's the father! Oh god, Derek… you haven't told him? How long have you known?"

Just then she was paged with a room number. She grabbed Meredith by the hand and rushed her through the hallway. When they reached the room, Derek just glanced at them awkwardly.

"I need to… go… I have stuff to… I need to go…"

"Derek," Meredith tried stopping him.

"I'll come by later… yeah… I promise." And with that he was out the door.

Meredith flopped down onto the bed. "I knew he'd freak out. I knew it was too early. And now… everything… these last two weeks… a waste."

Natalie shook her head. "No, that's not it. He'd be delighted if he found out he was going to be a father. Something is wrong."

Meredith shook her head. "No, it's because I didn't tell him. He knows I've been keeping it from him. Now he's mad… and I mean, he deserves to be. It's been two weeks that he's here. Two weeks that I've known… and I could have told him last night… oh god, last night would have been perfect to tell him. He was so relaxed last night, and the kissing… and it would have been ideal, but it's just not right."

"You guys finally did something?" Natalie exclaimed.

"We kissed. Several times. But that's it."

Natalie smiled. "Meredith, breathe, everything will be fine."

Meredith let herself relax slightly. "Okay."

Natalie giggled. "McBaby."

"Ugh." Meredith regretted having told Natalie about Cristina's nicknames. She knew it had been a mistake. She should have seen it coming, Natalie using it against her.

"Meredith, he'll be delighted, you know. When everything settles down a little. He'll be delighted."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Pregnant.

She was pregnant.

And Derek couldn't help but hate the thought of some other man conceiving a child with his Meredith.

He was pacing his office. Back and forth. Back and forth. It was his fault, after all. If he had left Addie earlier, if things had gotten better between them earlier, Meredith wouldn't have run out to New York. She wouldn't have had to do her hardest to forget about him. She wouldn't have picked up some guy to make her forget. She wouldn't be pregnant with some strangers child.

_Natalie could be wrong,_ he tried convincing himself. Hospital cafeteria food sometimes had that affect on people. Or it could be the flue. He had heard it was going around the hospital. Or appendicitis. Vomiting was a symptom of appendicitis. It could be all one big misunderstanding.

But what if it wasn't? What if Meredith actually was pregnant? What if the father were to find out and want back into her life? He didn't want to lose Meredith. This couldn't get in the way of their progress. He wouldn't be able to go on if she were to walk out of his life. He already knew what it felt like, to lose her. It wasn't going to happen again.

He wouldn't think about the man… Ugh, how he hated him without even knowing. Jealousy. He knew it without even having to be told. Oh, how much he was jealous. But it didn't matter. He would care for her throughout it all. He would tend to her every need. He would fulfill her every craving, take her shopping whenever she needed it. And he would take care of her and her baby after he or she was born. Get up in the middle of the night to feed him or her. Change diapers until his fingers fell off. He would do anything to make sure Meredith stayed his forever. He would treat her and the baby with the love they deserved. He would love her baby as if he or she was his own…

Boy, was he in for a shock.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith had fallen asleep in no time. She felt exhausted. Exhausted from the stress. She had imagined quite the reaction when Derek was to find, but she hadn't prepared herself for that. That had been… that had been terrible.

When she awoke, she noticed she had a visitor.

"Have a nice nap?" Derek asked with a smile.

Meredith could feel her breathing come out easier. "Yeah, I did." She sat up and she noticed through the window that it had gotten dark. "What time is it?"

Derek checked his watch. "A little after six."

Meredith shook her head. "I hadn't meant to sleep for that long. I mean, I was supposed to be working today –"

"It's been taken care of. Everyone decided it would be better for you to sleep. They gave you the rest of the day off."

Meredith nodded slowly. Then she smirked. "In that case, I'm starving."

Derek laughed. "I knew you would be. You're always hungry."

Meredith grabbed his hand. Then she hesitated before asking the question that had been bothering her. "Everything's going to be okay, right?"

Derek nodded as he kissed the top of her head. "We'll make it through this."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Supper had been quiet. They talked a little about surgery, a little about her moving. But the topic they had ignored the entire evening had been the one topic that was haunting the two of them. The pregnancy.

The car ride had been even quieter. Meredith had started to doze off, and Derek smiled. She was so cute when she slept.

He pulled into the driveway in front of his mother's and noticed that his passenger was long gone. He got out of the car and went around to the other side, where he opened the door and picked her up. He carried her to the front door, and managed to unlock it and open it without even shifting her. She had wrapped her arms around his neck unconsciously, and Derek had to admit it felt right.

He carried her up the stairs and to his room – her room – his old room – whatever it was. He then lightly set her down on the bed and looked at the way she instantly cuddled into the pillows and the bedding. He couldn't help but smile.

He couldn't pull himself to leave her. He didn't want to be anywhere but with her. He was in love with her, madly in love with her, even in the circumstances. He couldn't tear his eyes away. And he surely couldn't let her sleep in her jeans and her jacket.

He found a pair of gym pants and her ratty Dartmouth tee in the top drawer of her – his – dresser. He made his way towards the bed, not really thinking about what he was doing.

He managed to slip the jacket off of her and had her shirt pulled halfway off of her when she stirred. Her eyes opened and noticed Derek, his hands under her shirt.

"I'm so sorry," Derek mumbled when he noticed the expression on her face. "I didn't want you to be uncomfortable in your day clothes, so I was trying to change –"

Meredith giggled. "It's nice of you to care. And I appreciate the attempt."

Derek smiled embarrassingly as he fought for words. "I'm… yeah… I should… I'm going to …" he tried as he walked towards the door.

"Don't," she said, and he stopped in his tracks. He turned to face her, and he knew she was inviting him to stay with her.

He approached slowly, giving her the chance to change her mind. She smiled devilishly as she stripped out of her jeans, in only her panties and pulled on the gym pants. She also did the same with the shirt, exposing her bra momentarily and she quickly pulled on the Dartmouth tee.

"Now, I'm comfy. What about you?"

Derek smiled as he headed over to his old closet. He opened it and found exactly what he was looking for. His old gym pants were still on the shelf on the top of the closet. He stripped down to his boxers and pulled up the pants, and he noticed Meredith watching him. He then pulled his shirt over his head and crawled up next to Meredith in bed. She scooted over to make room for him, but as soon as he was under the covers with her, he pulled her close.

"Meredith…" he whispered slowly into her hair. She could feel his hands on her skin, just under her chest. She shook as the electrifying jolt left her breathless. She turned around to face Derek.

"Derek…" she wanted to tell him everything that was on her mind, about how she had been worried he was going to run away, about the fear that he wouldn't love her now that she was pregnant. But she didn't have the chance. His lips came crashing down on hers as he rolled himself over so that he was on top of her. His hands were on her hips, and he tried his best not to put too much weight on her.

Meredith thought about how this was not what she had expected. Derek only thought about how he wanted to make her forget about the man, or men, she slept with since they had been together. But when he felt her quiver beneath him, he stopped realizing there were quiet tears streaming from her eyes.

"Oh Meredith…" he whispered as he rolled back onto his side beside her. She was facing him, but her face was hidden in her hair now. "Oh Meredith, I'm sorry. That was too fast, and I should have been more sensitive. I'm so sorry." He pulled her against him, and he could feel her shaking slightly.

After the tears had subsided, Meredith looked up to him. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Meredith hun, there's no reason for you to be sorry. It was my mistake. You're not ready, I understand."

Meredith nodded. "It's just… the last time… I ended up… and things have changed… and… I…I… I don't know anymore…"

Derek rubbed her shoulders. "You don't need to worry about any of it. I'm here, and I'll always be here. I'm not going anywhere."

Meredith looked up to him. "Really?" she asked, and Derek could see all the insecurities in her eyes.

Derek nodded. "Really. And I don't care who the father is. To me, it's you that matters. The guy's an idiot to leave you hanging."

Meredith couldn't believe what she had just heard. Derek hadn't figured it out. He thought she had been with someone else. He thought that some one night stand was the father. He didn't know… he didn't know he was the father!

"Derek… "

"Meredith, I love you, and I'll love your baby no matter what. Of course, if the father comes back, I will beat the crap out of him. I wish I would've kept you with me, not made the mistakes I did, and then you never would have been with some jackass."

Meredith shook her head. "He wasn't a jackass. He isn't a jackass."

"What…?" Derek was almost afraid. Had this man been more than just a one night stand?

"He was married, and I was seeing someone, yet things happened, and then I ran away from him, bringing our baby with me. He didn't even know where I had gone. It was my fault."

Derek's jaw dropped to the ground. "I… I don't… no… there's…"

Meredith looked him in the eye. "I haven't slept with anyone since… since prom night…"

Derek sat up quickly. Meredith slowly sat up beside him, not knowing how he was about to react.

"All day… all day I cursed myself for letting you get away. All day, I wanted to kill myself for having chased you into someone else's arms. All day… all day I wanted it to be me you conceived your first child with. Our first child. And now… now, you're telling me…"

"Derek, I thought you knew… I figured if you thought it was someone else's, you would have run off. I thought you knew."

Derek finally looked her in the eye. A bright smile took over his face. "Oh my god, Meredith. You're pregnant… and… I'm…"

Meredith giggled as she took his hand and rested it on her stomach. "You're going to be a dad."

**Awwwww (: Their first moment as a family ! Too cute (:**


	9. Chapter 9

As usual, Carolyn was the first one up. She hadn't made it home last night, having been over at Natalie's, first with the kids because Natalie had gotten pulled into a surgery that ended later than expected and that Cory was out of town for a few days, and then when Natalie got home near ten thirty, they had quite the talk. It was then that she had decided to stay the night.

_Carolyn had been sitting in the living room reading when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She walked towards the living room window that looked out over the front yard and saw Natalie sliding out of her car, and head towards the front door._

"_Mom?" she called out quietly. _

"_In the family room sweetie."_

_Natalie climbed the stairs two by two and Carolyn could tell she had something on her mind just by the way she rushed up the stairs._

"_You knew!" Natalie exclaimed, quietly, when she finally had her mother within her vision. "All this time you knew, but you never said a thing!"_

_Carolyn tried to figure this out, and although she had a pretty good idea what her daughter was talking about, she wasn't going to jump to conclusions and end up blowing Meredith's secret._

"_Knew what?"_

"_You knew Meredith was pregnant! Don't think I didn't notice the little moments you two shared, the glances when someone brought up related subjects. I didn't get it then, I thought it was just you reassuring her she was truly part of the family, but it wasn't! You knew she was pregnant and you didn't say anything!"_

_Carolyn giggled slightly at the look on Natalie's face along with her little rant. "Natalie, it wasn't my secret to tell. And I'm sure Meredith would have told you much sooner, but she found out the same day that Derek showed up. She came home and let everything out. She told me about how the only person she had told was the baby's grandmother, and I didn't understand because she had told me she didn't talk to her mother. But it was the father's mother that she told, not her own, but she wasn't going to tell the father. Although I didn't completely agree, I told her I'd be willing to discuss it with his mother, that they keep it to themselves. Boy was I not prepared when she told me Derek was the father. And as she told me that, I thought about how he was upstairs at that very instance, asleep in your room, because Meredith was staying in his." Carolyn took a breath. "Everything had been so all of a sudden that I didn't have the chance to find a way to explain it to her calmly that Derek was here."_

"_And then he found her," Natalie finished the story. "At my place. Mark and I didn't know how to tell him, and we had decided that it would probably be better if we left it on fate for them to find each other."_

_Carolyn smiled. "That's why Meredith didn't tell you. She hadn't had the chance. And she probably knew you would be overjoyed at the idea of her having Derek's baby that it would have been too much on her."_

_Natalie giggled. "I would have been pretty excited."_

_Carolyn nodded. "So Meredith told you today?" she then asked, still not exactly sure how Natalie knew about Meredith being pregnant._

_Natalie sat down and her mother followed her. "Not really… sort of. I found her with my other interns at the cafeteria and she didn't look to good. I have a feeling the other two were talking about Derek, if you know what I mean." Carolyn nodded. "Anyway, she ended up throwing up several times, and that's when I thought about how you had seemed very protective of her and certain topics lately. I regret having done it, but I asked her a little bit too loud if she was pregnant. Did I mention Derek was with us at this point?" Carolyn had a look of dread on her face. "We sent Derek away to find her an exam room and Meredith then confirmed to me that she was pregnant. We went to the exam room Derek had found us, but he was acting very weird… almost as if he didn't know how to react and he left. At this point, he had figured that I was probably right, and Meredith started freaking out because she was sure Derek would run now. I tried assuring her that it was probably just from the shock, and I think she finally realized that I was right. It was then that I had been paged and I haven't seen her since."_

_Carolyn shrugged. "Did you leave her at the hospital?"_

_Natalie shook her head. "No, Derek told me he'd bring her home…"_

_They both paused for a moment. Carolyn was the first to let show a small smile. "They're home just the two of them. Things must be okay by now."_

_Natalie nodded. "We'll find out in the morning."_

_Carolyn nodded. "You don't mind if I stay here for the night? I think we should give the two of them some privacy."_

_Natalie smirked. "Not a problem The guest room is all yours."_

And now Carolyn was home, ready to make herself a nice hot pot of coffee. She figured when Derek woke up, he would need some too, and Meredith would surely like a hot chocolate, since coffee wasn't an option.

She put the coffee in the pot and waited for it to start to boil. But it seemed to be taking forever. She was just impatient this morning. She wanted Meredith and Derek to wake up so she could find out how things had gone over last night. A small smile crept onto her lips as she decided she needed to see for herself.

She made her way quietly up the stairs, but paused in the same place Meredith had the first time she had come down those stairs. The picture missing didn't bring sadness to Carolyn's heart. Not at all. She thought about how it would hopefully be replaced sometime in the future. She knew it was bound to happen. There was no doubt in her mind that Derek had truly found the woman who belonged at his side in that picture.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned towards Derek's old room, where Meredith was staying. If they were to stay anywhere , it would have been there.

The door was closed shut, but that didn't stop Carolyn from being a snoop and opening it, very quietly, so she could get a peek.

She smiled when she noticed the scene before her. Not only was Derek also asleep by her side, like she had expected, they were wrapped so tightly in each other's arms that it was hard to tell where one of the began and the other one ended. Their expressions were so serene and peaceful, a quiet smile playing with both of their features.

She closed the door back over quietly, and decided that she had done enough snooping. They needed their privacy, even in their sleep.

But Carolyn's smile wasn't going anywhere for a long time.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith awoke to the feel of Derek's lips on her cheek. She smiled as she remembered the night before, and how he had reacted when he found out that the baby was in fact his. They had fallen asleep shortly after that, both of them exhausted from the day they had been through.

"Good morning," Meredith mumbled as she looked up to meet Derek's eyes. They were sparkling with joy and happiness, Meredith could tell.

"Is it ever," Derek answered and Meredith giggled as he kissed her on the lips, then made his way down to her stomach and kissed it too.

"Derek…"

He looked up to her and noticed the tears in her eyes. "Meredith, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I don't know if I'm ready for this… I mean, I… I never expected to get pregnant, especially not while I'm still an intern, and it scares me… and then my mother… she …"

Derek knew where this was going. "Meredith, you are not your mother. You can't think like that. You're caring and loving. I've seen you with Natalie and Amy's kids. You're a natural with them, and it makes me love you even more if that were possible."

Meredith nodded, but still had her fears. "I… I'm still petrified. The thought of their being something growing inside of me is… indescribable, but absolutely terrorizing. And work, oh god. How will this work while I'm still a resident? With maternity leave and … I don't want a baby to have to live the way I did by being a hospital kid. And the people at work… this isn't Seattle Grace. There isn't drama leaking through every window. But now… an intern pregnant with an attending's baby, and not just any attending… oh no. Dr Derek Shepherd, the hotshot doctor whom every woman is already madly falling for. Not only that, his uncle is the chief of surgery and I'm freaking Ellis Grey's daughter. It'll be the story of the century."

Derek didn't want to be insensitive, but he couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" she asked, not getting the joke.

"You're cute when you rant like that."

She crossed her arms on her chest. "I wasn't trying to be cute, or funny Derek. I'm serious! How do you think this will affect my work life? Everyone will be giving me the 'oh poor girl. Pregnant in her intern year' look, and then when they find out you're the father, I will never be able to get into any good neuro cases cause they'll call it special treatment and then you'll –"

He stopped her with a kiss. "Meredith, breath," he demanded. He then wrapped his arms around her. "You're an amazing surgeon and no one will ever doubt that. And there will be no special treatment, unless you want it." He paused and hesitated before deciding to add his last comment. "And I think you'll make a very hot pregnant intern and I will have to shoo away other doctor's because you'll be my hot pregnant intern."

Derek chuckled as Meredith screeched in terror. "Derek Shepherd!" she nearly yelled and then swat at him. "How could you say that?"

Derek raised his hands. "I saw it with my own eyes! When you were asleep yesterday, you should have seen the amount of male interns and residents who stopped to look through the window at you and sigh. They were worried about you. No one knew what was wrong with you. They were gawking at you, each and everyone watching and waiting for a boyfriend to show up."

Meredith giggled slightly. "Really?"

Derek smirked. "Would that be something I could just make up?"

Meredith shrugged. "Sure, if you wanted."

Derek pulled her as close as he could. "But it's true, I swear."

"Well, since the moment you walked into the hospital yesterday heads have turned and woman's hearts have fluttered. I'm stuck with the only two other woman interns at the hospital and let's just say they are nothing like Cristina."

Derek chuckled. "They don't seem it." He then remembered one of them saying something when he had come to see if Meredith was okay. "Dr Greene said something about you having lied about something…"

Meredith sighed. "They were talking about you. Greene seemed quite interested but insisted that there was no way a guy like you would ever fall for an intern… " Derek kissed her forehead as she said this to assure her it wasn't true, "and Monroe kept saying that she had a chance. They then asked me if I knew you, since I was friends with Natalie and Mark… I said I hadn't gotten the chance to get to know you."

Derek rubbed her back. "You should have told them to back off and that I was yours."

Meredith laughed. "I can just picture their faces now. It would be something along the lines of 'okay, so she's a nut who should be submitted to psych'."

Derek couldn't help but laugh with her. "Yeah, I can just imagine how that would have gone over. But today they'll see that we're both unavailable."

"Derek…" she warned him.

"Nothing bad Meredith. Just hand holding and quick kisses. Please?" he added as he gave her that puppy dog look.

"Fine," she gave in with a small laugh.

"Good, because I don't want other men getting the idea that you're a sexy single pregnant intern. You're all mine."

"Jealous are we Derek?"

Derek kissed her on the lips with the love and tenderness she had always loved in his kisses. It wasn't rushed or heated like most of Derek's jealous kisses. It was just one that truly showed her that he loved her with all his heart.

"Maybe," he admitted with a wink.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

When Carolyn finally heard footsteps coming down the stairs, she pulled the muffins she had baked in impatience out of the oven and set them on the counter. They smelt delicious, like usual, and Derek and Meredith noticed that as soon as they put foot into the kitchen.

"Mmmm," they both moaned in delight and Carolyn looked up to meet them. Derek's hand was wrapped protectively around her waist and Meredith was slightly leaning into his embrace, as if accepting this small example of his love.

"You guys are finally up!" she exclaimed as she poured Derek a cup of coffee and reheated Meredith's mug of hot chocolate.

Derek chuckled at his mother's expression. "Mom, it's not even eight o'clock yet on a day where we only have to be at work for twelve. You're lucky we're up this early."

Carolyn smiled. "I know, I know. I just wanted to know how you guys were."

Both Derek and Meredith arched their eyebrows.

"I stayed at Natalie's last night. We ended up staying up late talking last night…"

"Ah, I see where this is going," Derek said. "You two are still the family gossips. Not much has changed."

"We're not gossips!" Carolyn exclaimed as Meredith giggled. "We just like staying on top of things."

"And like to get into everyone else's business."

Carolyn laughed. "Fine, we're gossips, but with the two of you to watch over, I need her to be my eyes and ears when you guys are at work. And it sounds like you guys had quite the day yesterday?"

Derek and Meredith exchanged a glance, but they smiled brightly. "Everything's been taken care of. We've talked, things have been straightened out, and now, we look forward to spending the day making the other residents and interns jealous."

Meredith giggled. "No, Derek's looking forward to spending the day making the male interns and residents who apparently are all madly in love with me jealous."

Carolyn smiled at the lightness of their discussion. But she couldn't help but let something Derek said go unnoticed. "You said things have been straightened out. What things?"

Meredith was about to say something, but the front door opened and Natalie came running in. "Meredith, Derek! You guys are smiling!"

Meredith giggled as Derek pressed a kiss to her forehead. "We are."

Natalie came over to give Meredith a hug. "Then congratulations is what seems most appropriate in the moment." She then turned to Derek to give him a hug.

She then went over to grab a mug and fill it with coffee. She sat down facing Meredith and Derek, sitting beside her mom. "So Derek, have you gotten over the jitters of becoming a dad?"

Derek was confused. "Jitters?"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Derek, you were freaking out yesterday when you realized Meredith was pregnant. You had her panicking that you were going to walk away on her and that you didn't want this."

Meredith and Derek exchanged a quick glance as Meredith looked up to Natalie. "He was just mad with himself for having chased me into the arms of another man who got me pregnant."

Carolyn's jaw dropped whereas Natalie spit up what was left of her gulp of coffee. "What?"

Meredith laughed as Derek turned bright red. "I hadn't even thought of the possibility that I was the father. I mean… you guys don't need to know the details. I was convinced she had come here and while trying to forget about me, found… umm… well you know where this is going."

"He told me last night he would love the baby no matter what and that he didn't care who the father was. I had thought he had figured it out, but…"

Carolyn and Natalie couldn't help but giggle and Derek turned ever redder.

"None of that matters now," Carolyn spoke up before Derek was completely embarrassed. "What matters is that you know the truth and that you and Meredith make your way through this, together."

Derek nodded. "We will."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Natalie's shift had started at nine, whereas Meredith and Derek were only scheduled to start at twelve. They had lazed around the house with Carolyn, and then had headed into work. Today, Derek had no reservations when it came to making sure people knew Meredith was his. They had tried keeping their distances yesterday as to not get too much attention, but Derek had more important things in mind now. Making sure the men here knew Meredith was taken.

Once again, heads turned when they entered, but it wasn't because of the new hotshot doctor. Is was because their new hotshot doctor was holding their fellow intern's hand. Meredith noticed the whispering start as soon as they stepped into the main lobby of the hospital.

"Derek…" she whispered, but he didn't need to hear what she was going to say. He already knew.

"Ignore them," he said as he squeezed her hand tighter.

They walked through the halls and parted ways at the nurse's station. By the time she reached the intern locker room, the gossip had already made its way there. All eyes turned on her when she entered. She ignored them and made her way to her locker where she was greeted by two mocking smiles.

"Well well, if it isn't little miss attending screwer," Melissa mumbled to Julia, just loud enough so that Meredith could hear her. Then she turned to Meredith. "Thought you didn't know Dr Hotshot? Have you been lying to us all this time? I bet you're not even Ellis Grey's daughter. Another lie."

Meredith tried her best to ignore her, but Melissa approached purposely to make her uncomfortable. "You realize he's going to use you then break you apart. Interns don't have any chance with attendings. You're just his little –"

Melissa was cut off by the voice of their chief. "Dr Grey, could I speak to you?"

Everyone 'ooed' as Meredith got up, barely changed into her scrubs yet.

"You realize he's Dr Shepherd's uncle, don't you?" Melissa chuckled in her back.

"Follow me," Greg said as she led her down the hall to his office, which luckily wasn't too far away.

When the door had closed, Greg looked back to her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Meredith nodded. "I am now."

She had known as soon as the chief had walked in and asked for her that she wasn't in trouble. She had gotten to know him quite well, and just like the rest of the Shepherd's she knew, they stood up for each other. While everyone thought Gregory Shepherd had called on her to yell at her and scold her for her behaviour, she had known all along he was saving her.

"I don't know how to make them see that their behaviour his immature and childish. It's as if they've never witnessed a relationship before in their lives."

Meredith shook her head. "It's because he's an attending. They think he's just using me."

Greg sighed as he invited her to take a seat on the small couch. "I want to tell you a story. When I was an intern, I had a patient who had been so amazed by our work that she decided to go to med school and become a doctor. She was seven years younger than me, but that didn't matter. I had become her mentor, helped her with her studies. We eventually fell in love, just before her intern year. By this point, I was an attending. The other interns wouldn't even acknowledge her because she was my 'arm candy' as they called it. But that didn't stop her. It didn't stop me either. We continued to see each other, in and outside of the hospital. But it wasn't easy on her.

"I needed to prove to the hospital that she was really the love of my life, that it wasn't a joke. Do you know what I did?" Meredith shook her head. "I faked a big case, my friend pretending to be the patient. My chief was in on it, because he knew that my relationship with my girlfriend was serious. Nearly the entire surgical staff had gathered to witness the surgery of the decade. Weren't they disappointed when I told them there would be no surgery. Instead, I pulled a ring out of my scrubs and proposed, then and there. Never again did anyone doubt that we were real."

Meredith smiled. "That's… incredible. She's one lucky woman."

Greg nodded. "She is. And now, the doctors respect her and love her. She's an attending now."

Meredith thought about it for a second, then remembered that there was only one female attending. "Dr Saunders is your wife?"

Greg nodded. "It's been twenty-six years. We have four lovely children, one of them is actually in med school."

Meredith couldn't believe it. "Even though everyone thought it was just a fling…"

Greg patted her on the back. "We made it through, just like you and Derek will."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

After having changed into his scrubs, Derek went down to the nurse's station where he found Natalie waiting impatiently for her interns.

"They're all late today," Natalie mumbled, then looked up to see Derek. "Derek, where's Meredith?"

"Last I saw her she was headed towards the locker room."

Natalie noticed over Derek's shoulder Dr Greene and Dr Monroe heading in their direction. She went to meet them. "Where's Dr Grey?" she asked, knowing they would have seen her.

"Chief Shepherd wanted to talk to her," Julia answered.

"Probably had something to do with her screwing an attending," Melissa mumbled under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Natalie answered just as Derek approached, having heard what Dr Greene had said.

"Umm… nothing," she answered as she played with her thumbs and Derek excused himself to go find out why his uncle wanted to talk to Meredith.

"We'll talk later," Natalie said, her stare burning holes in Melissa. "Dr Monroe, you're on Dr Saunders's service today. Dr Greene, scut."

"What!" she exclaimed. "I was supposed to be with Dr Shepherd!"

"Well you just insulted Dr Shepherd and his relationship with the love of his life, so I don't want to have to put him through the misery of having to deal with you."

She became wide eyed as Natalie said 'love of his life,' then groaned as she marched off.

"Interns," Natalie sighed as she too made her way towards the chief's office.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"It seems you're quite popular," Greg said as he pointed through the small window on the door. Meredith turned around and smiled when she noticed the two figures leaning against the wall.

"I guess it's probably time I face the hospital," Meredith said as she got up. "Thank you, once again."

Greg taped her on the shoulder. "Anytime."

They opened the door and both Derek and Natalie rushed to meet them.

"What was wrong? Is everything okay? What did she do?" they both asked as many questions as they could before Greg interrupted them.

"Woah, calm down! I had been passing the intern locker room when I noticed a certain intern on Meredith's case. I thought I'd save her."

"I'm going to strangle Dr Greene," Natalie mumbled.

"You mean, it's nothing bad?" Derek asked.

Meredith laughed. "No, we just talked about everything and anything."

"Wanted to give her the chance to escape all the curious eyes," Greg added.

"Good, good."

"Now, what are you two doing here?" Greg asked. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"I was just making sure Meredith was okay. I care about her, and I know how hard things can be on her and…"

Natalie shooed him away. "I've got a work related reason. Mine's more important." The chief laughed. "I needed to give her her assignment for today…Fine, I admit, I worried about her too."

Greg shook his head. "No need. She's had a special request."

Derek was the first to react, "From who?" He didn't want it to be some drooly male that would be all over her.

"Me," a voice he knew too well said from behind him. He turned around, and let out a breath in relief when he faced Mark.

"Why?" Meredith asked. "It's not like I'm any good in plastics or anything."

Mark smiled. "I was talking to Nat this morning and she told me about the whole pregnancy thing. Thought you might need a friend today to keep an eye out for you, and having Derek be that person would probably make things worse. So who better than your new best friend?"

Derek couldn't help but smile. Mark did care. "Thank you," he said first to Greg, then turned to Mark. "To both of you. At least I know I've got some people to count on here."

"I will try my hardest as to make things as easy on you guys as possible," Greg smiled. "Special treatment sometimes isn't so bad."

Meredith sighed. It was only going to help in the short run. Things wouldn't get easier as fast as she hoped.

**I apologize for the EXTREMELY long wait ! Lets just say realy life really sucks sometimes... Anyway, I hope you guys haven't completely given up yet ! Enjoy !**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm sorry ! But the next chapter is finally here, so enjoy !**

"So he knocked you up, huh?"

Meredith rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but let a smile slip while Mark let out a laugh. She knew he'd have something to say about it, but she had expected them at least to make their way around the corner before him saying anything. Derek, Natalie and the Chief were still within earshot.

"If you want to put it that way..."

Mark wrapped her quickly in his arms which caught Meredith slightly by surprise. "He's going to be a great dad," he said, and Meredith could see he was being completely serious.

She nodded with a smile. "I know."

There was a short silence as the two walked through the busier parts of the hospital. Gazes were all shifted on her, so they made their trip to the nurse's station as quick as possible and were soon in a deserted hallway towards their patient's room.

"So why did you not say anything?" Mark suddenly asked.

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know, honestly. I felt like things were going so great with Derek... I didn't want to tell him and then have him run."

Mark shook his head. "I realize why you didn't tell Derek... sort of. I was wondering why you didn't talk to me or Natalie."

Meredith looked up to him and stopped in front of their patient's door. Neither one of them opened it. So she decided to give him his answer.

"I was going to... I was going to give myself a few days, and then tell Natalie, and then I was going to tell you. But I didn't get those few days. I found out the day Derek showed up. That's when I told Carolyn... I told her I was pregnant and that Derek was the father. I didn't get the chance to really let it sink in that I was having his baby because I had to let the fact that Derek was here sink in first. And honestly, I think it's just sinking in now."

Mark nodded and opened the door, knowing this wasn't the end of their little conversation.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

As they watched Meredith and Mark walk off, Derek couldn't help but reflect on how different Mark seemed. He seemed to be more of the Mark he was in their teenage years; full hearted, open minded, a flirt of course, but with restrictions. He had avoided battles he knew he didn't have a chance in, but had made mistakes. However, in his teen years, he had learnt from those mistakes. It seemed that he had gone back to learning from his more recent mistakes.

The friendship between Meredith and Mark had made him nervous at first. Well of course it had. He had just gotten out of a marriage that had fallen apart mostly because of Mark's actions. Well… Derek had finally admitted to himself that Mark had mostly just been the last straw in his relationship with Addie, but whatever the subtitle given to his former best friend, it had made him lose all confidence in his so called brother. So to watch the love of his life bond so easily with the man brought a fear to Derek's heart in the beginning. He wasn't about to lose her again.

But as the weeks had passed, he finally believed Meredith's words from that first night. Mark would never do something ever again to the women in Derek's life. Their relationship was more sibling like than anything else. And definitely more sibling like than it had been with his sisters, or at least the ones Mark had managed to get his hands on. With Meredith and Mark, nothing would ever happen. Derek was confident about that, a feeling he hadn't felt for a while.

"I need to get back to work," Natalie's voice finally broke through his thoughts. Derek nodded, as if indicating he too should get back to his job. But it seemed like his job would have to wait a little longer.

"Derek, I'd like to talk to you in my office first," Greg said as Natalie walked off. "If you don't mind."

Derek laughed. "The only chief who would ask his surgeons whether they minded talking to him in his office. Does that mean I can avoid this conversation?"

Derek could tell that his uncle hadn't really acknowledge the joking in his voice. He just stayed silent as Derek walked into the office behind him. "Greg, you know I was kidding right? I don't mind at all."

Greg finally looked up at him once they were alone and where no one could overhear their conversation. "I gave you the option because this has nothing to do with your job or me being chief Derek. This is family business."

Derek seemed slightly stunned. "Oh… okay…?" he answered slightly confused as he took a seat, following his uncle's example.

"She's an amazing surgeon Derek, she's great at her job, but she's also an even more incredible person."

Derek didn't know how to react. His boss was talking about his Meredith. And not only that, he referred to it as family business, as if Meredith was already part of the family, which technically, she pretty much was. This made Derek smile slightly.

"I know that," Derek said with a nod. "I don't need to be reminded."

Greg leaned forward towards Derek. "No but you need to be told that things are not going to be easy around here for her. You remember your internship and the hell of a ride it had been. Try pilling a relationship with your boss and a pregnancy on top of that."

Derek nodded slowly as he tried to imagine his internship being any more difficult than it had been. He hadn't thought he'd be able to make it through the year, and he had had a pretty normal internship. He couldn't even imagine how Meredith must feel.

"I want you to promise me Derek that you will be there for her no matter what."

Derek leaned back in his chair. He didn't even need to think about the promise he was about to make. It went without being said. "Greg, I am going to do everything I can possibly do to make things as easy as possible on Meredith, in and outside of work. I am committed to this relationship and I always will be. Even if that means making my life a living hell. As long as she's okay, then that's all that matters to me."

Greg nodded as he too leaned back in his chair. "Okay then." He paused as Derek nodded. "Now we need to talk about how things at the hospital are going to work."

Derek didn't understand. "What… what do you mean?"

"Derek… you need to realize that this relationship is going to affect your work life."

Derek nodded. "I know that… I guess. And if being with Meredith means that she needs to avoid Neuro at all costs and that we can't speak to each other at work, I will do it. But Meredith on the other hand…"

Greg laughed and Derek felt grateful for the expression on his face. "None of that nonsense Derek. I was going to say the quite opposite actually."

"You… what?"

Greg smiled. "I know what you're going through Derek. I went through the same thing with your aunt. You need to prove to your coworkers, and to hers mostly, that the two of you are real, that it's not just some fling as they all seem to believe."

Derek nodded. "I love her. I really do."

Greg smiled as he got up and walked around to Derek's side of the desk and patted him on the back. "I know that Derek. I can see it in both of your eyes."

"And I love our baby too. I'm about to finally be a father. I… I can't believe it…"

Derek waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, he turned around only to come face to face with the look of shook on his uncle's face.

"How… She's… The baby… The baby's yours?" he asked, completely taken aback. He had realized they had had history together, but he couldn't imagine that Meredith, who was now six weeks along, was pregnant with a Shepherd.

Derek nodded as a bright smile took over his features. "I hadn't even thought of the possibility until she told me straight out that I was the father. We… had an incident before she came to New York…"

Greg's confusion turned to utter joy within seconds as he took his nephew into his arms in a tight embrace. "Congrats son. I wish the best of luck for the both of you, and you have my support throughout it all."

Derek thanked him as he left the office, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. And then the realization hit him.

If his uncle, who knew in general about their past, hadn't put the pieces together, that Derek was the father of Meredith's baby, how long would it take their coworkers to figure it out once the truth was out?

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"Mom!" Natalie exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Natalie had been assigned to the pit and wasn't too happy about it. She was supposed to be working with Dr Anderson, but since he had heard about how her intern was in a relationship with an attending, who happened to be her brother, he hadn't wanted anything to do with any of them. He was one of the oldest attendings at New York Pres, and he didn't like how things had changed, like for example, office relationships and he blamed Natalie for the fact that they were together. She had been outraged, but she had kept her mouth shut about it. He wasn't worth it. And also, Meredith didn't need the extra stress. So Natalie took the fall, happy she could do something to help her sister.

Sister. Natalie smiled as the simple word described what Meredith was to her. It didn't matter that they weren't related by blood, or had grown up together like Mark and Derek. It didn't even matter that she and Derek weren't married, and it wouldn't have even mattered if they hadn't of even been together. Meredith had become like a sister to her, and no matter what, the feeling would never change.

"Oh it was just a fender bender sweetheart. The medics on the scene wanted me to get checked out. Figured it couldn't do any harm and it gave me an excuse to come visit you guys." Carolyn playful tone brought Natalie back to the present.

"You sure you're okay?"

Carolyn nodded. "Just a few bumps and bruises. Apparently I do however need stitches on my arm. Glass shard."

Natalie looked at her mother in horror. "I thought you said it was just a fender bender? How did you manage to get glass in your arm?"

Carolyn laughed with a wave of her hand. "I visited your sister this morning. She was making lunch when she dropped a bowl. One of the shards bounced of off the floor and nicked me in the arm. I didn't think it was such a big deal. Wiped it up and put a bandage on it. But apparently-"

Natalie cut her off with a laugh. "I get it mom. Let me check it out."

She pulled off the bandage and assessed the cut. "Not too deep, or wide. It'll only need three or four stitches."

"I could do without," Carolyn said with a shrug. "Three or four stitches means that they're not all that necessary. There are plenty of other people here who are much worse off than me."

Natalie looked around the relatively quiet OR and back at her mother. "There's a man with a runny nose, some guy who stubbed his toe and a woman who thinks she's a freak because she has her period twice a month. I think a few stitches trumps all of their issues put together."

Carolyn sighed as she finally gave in. Natalie grabbed a suture kit and placed herself comfortably so that she could stitch up her mother's arm.

"So how has work been?"

Natalie let out a sigh. "Quite crappy if you must know. I've got bosses who are assholes, surgeries that are being stolen out from underneath of me and an intern who has absolutely no respect for anyone at all."

Carolyn cringed slightly at the pressure from the first stitch. "Oh dear. I hope the intern you speak so little of isn't Meredith…"

Natalie let out a laugh. "Ha! I'd say the complete opposite. It's because of the whole Meredith and Derek situation that she's gotten to the point where she is. She insulted Derek and still expected to be on his service."

Carolyn shook her head. "It's jealousy. She's envious of Meredith because not only is Meredith an incredible surgeon, she's got a wonderful man at her sides and a pretty good looking one if I might say so myself," she finished with a wink and a laugh.

"Mom!" Natalie screeched. "He's your son!"

"I know, I know. But I raised a pretty good bunch of kids, didn't I?"

Natalie smirked as she finished her last stitch. "You did. And you have no idea how grateful we all are to have had you as a mother."

"You say it as if I'm no longer your mother." Carolyn frowned.

Natalie shook her head. "No it's nothing like that. It's just that you said you had raised us well, so I was talking about the days where we depended on you to show us right from wrong, the days where you truly mothered us. Not that you don't mother us anymore. Just not the way you used to."

Carolyn nodded with a smile as she took her daughter into her arms. "I know. But it does look like I'll be doing some more mothering for a while."

Natalie nodded as she pulled away. "Meredith could definitely use your motherly ways. She hasn't had that experience and she's worried it'll make her a bad mother."

"She doesn't know what she's talking about."

Natalie laughed. "I can definitely see a wonderful mother in Meredith."

Carolyn nodded. "And speaking of the mom-to-be…"

Natalie turned around and noticed Mark and Meredith enter the ER, laughing at something or other. When they noticed the two Shepherd women looking their way, they exchanged a glance before approaching.

"Carolyn!" Mark boomed as he brought his mom into a tight embrace. "What on earth are you doing here?"

Carolyn and Natalie exchanged glances before they went into the explanation of how Carolyn had ended up in the ER.

"Well just as long as you're okay," Mark said. "I wouldn't want this little monster's grandmother to get hurt," he said as he taped Meredith's stomach lightly and Meredith swatted at his arm lightly as she and Natalie let out a laugh.

Carolyn just smiled at her children. They were all like children to her, and no matter what, like Natalie, nothing could ever change the way she felt about Meredith being a part of the family. She now had a place among the Shepherd's and she always would. She was an honorary Shepherd. Permanently.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"I still can't believe we're working together again," Michael said with a laugh.

Derek nodded. "I know what you mean. I think the last time we were in the same OR, we were fourth year resident. Now, you're head of peds, and I'm head of neuro… time flies, doesn't it?

Michael nodded as they entered the scrub room. They had just finished up their surgery on a 17 year old who was having seizures. It had been successful, and the teen would be able to finally live his life to the fullest. Derek felt like as if that's how it finally was for him too; he could finally live his life to the fullest.

"So…" Michael started hesitantly. "I happened to overhear some interesting news this morning."

"Oh yeah?"

He nodded hesitantly. "Something about Dr Grey being… well…"

Derek looked over at him curiously. "And where did you hear this?"

"If you guys are trying to keep it on the down low, you should really tell your sister to find more private areas to inform your partner in crime. She and Mark were discussing it when I walked by their table at lunch today. No one else was around, well no one that would have been listening. And I promise I won't say anything."

Derek nodded slowly. "Thank you."

Neither one of them said anything else. They finished scrubbing out in silence, and both went their ways after a quick goodbye.

Derek was shocked to find Meredith sitting with his mother in the cafeteria. With curiosity and confusion in his eyes, he approached the two and took a seat beside Meredith.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" he asked as Carolyn shook her head and waved her hand around.

"Oh I was in a little fender bender this morning. Insisted I come to the hospital. I figured I might as well stick around for a little while."

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, your mother has been telling me some of your baby stories Derek. I think I should be afraid for this little guy."

She placed her hand subtly on her stomach and Derek saw the twinkle in her eye. Just that morning she wasn't sure she was ready for this. But suddenly, it was like she had complete confidence in herself. He curiously gazed between her and his mother, and when Carolyn noticed his piercing gaze, she smiled at Meredith.

"We had some girl talk time," she explained.

Derek nodded slowly, and then realized they were sitting in a moderately busy cafeteria. Carolyn and Meredith both noticed as he looked around.

"We were outside Derek," Meredith said as she rested her hand on his lap. "I want to keep this quiet a little longer too."

Derek did in fact want to keep it quiet for a little while longer, not because he didn't want people to know he had impregnated an intern, no not at all. He wanted the world to know Meredith was carrying his baby, but he knew Meredith couldn't handle all of that right now. People had already caught on to the fact that he and Meredith were an item. She didn't need the extra stress of the stares and whispers. And Derek respected that.

"So what did you guys talk about?" he asked.

Meredith blushed slightly as Carolyn gave her a quick wink. "I told you Derek. It was girl talk."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

It had in fact been quite the girl talk. Carolyn and Natalie had insisted in chatting with Meredith as soon as Carolyn had been discharged. They had decided that the bench outside in the back of the hospital was the quietest and most private place they could find.

"_So what is this about?" Meredith asked worriedly. Natalie and Carolyn kept exchanging quick glances and this made Meredith very nervous._

"_Meredith, we need to talk to you…" Natalie said as the three of them took a seat, Meredith in the middle._

_Meredith stiffened at Natalie's words. "I've heard those words. Usually uttered by guys though. It's the breakup line. Oh… no…" she got to her feet quickly and starting pacing, shaking her head. "I knew things were too good to last. Everything seemed to perfect… I knew… It was bound to happen… and I'm the home wrecker and the slutty intern and now you guys regret having accepted me anyway, and Derek… he knows this is a mistake and… Oh god… I'm pregnant… and I don't have… I need to go..." Meredith was about to turn around but Natalie caught her wrist._

"_What the hell are you talking about?" Natalie said with a slight giggle. "That is not at all what we were going to say."_

_Meredith seemed dumbstruck as Natalie forced her down back into her seat. "It's… it's not?"_

_Carolyn shook her head as she wiped away the tears Meredith has started to shed, tears she hadn't even realized herself had fallen. "Not at all Meredith. You have no idea just how much we love you. Both of you."_

_Meredith's breath hitched her throat. "You… love me?"_

_Natalie took in Meredith's broken expression, and knew right away that this strong beautiful woman before her hadn't heard those words very often. "Of course we do Meredith. And not just the two of us. Mark, Amy, Cory, Julian… even Greg. And of course Derek."_

_Meredith burst into tears. Carolyn rubbed her back reassuringly._

"_Meredith hun, what's wrong?"_

_Meredith shook her head as she wiped her tears. "I… nobody's ever told me they loved me."_

_They both seemed shocked. "No... Nobody?" Natalie asked in disbelief._

"_Well… Derek… but I figured it was just the spur of the moment. I didn't… I didn't let myself believe him. I just couldn't."_

"_Well believe it Meredith. We're not getting rid of you. Ever. So deal with it," Natalie said with a laugh._

"_So… what is this about then?"_

_Natalie and Carolyn exchanged glances again, but this time Meredith didn't worry as much._

"_We've heard you've been having… doubts…" Carolyn started._

_Meredith shied away slightly. _

"_It's nothing to be ashamed of Meredith," Natalie insisted. "You're an incredibly strong woman, but when it comes to this certain aspect of life, we know you haven't had the greatest role model."_

"_That's why we're here one hundred percent for you, to help you through it all." Carolyn smiled as she rested her hand on Meredith's knee._

"_We've both been through this, five times to be exact," Natalie said with a laugh, "and now it's your turn."_

"_And Derek will be there for you too throughout it all. You've got a family now Meredith."_

_Meredith shook with sobs. "A family…" she mumbled. _

"_And it just keeps growing," Natalie added as she rested her hand on Meredith's stomach. _

"_I…" Meredith was speechless. She didn't know how to respond. "Thank you."_

_Carolyn shook her head with a laugh. "How many times do I need to tell you Meredith that thanks are not necessary? Isn't that what family is for?"_

_Meredith nodded quietly, still not believing what she was hearing._

"_This baby is going to have a wonderful family," Natalie said. "A grandmother who will love him or her absolutely to death, aunts and uncles who will fight over him or her, a father who's never going to lose that new twinkle in his eye and a mother… oh, there is no way to describe the amazing mother this baby is going to have. Meredith, you have absolutely nothing to worry about."_

_Natalie brought her into her arms, and when she finally let go, Carolyn did the same. They sat in a comfortable silence until Carolyn started to giggle. When both Meredith and Natalie gave her a questioning glance, she smiled._

"_Derek was right. Your rambling is adorable." _

**_A little fluff in there for everyone (: I hope you all liked it and haven't given up yet. I finished writing this story so all I have left to do is update the chapters. You guys have no idea how excited I am to have finished writing it ! My first completed fanfiction ! This said, I'm going to update a lot faster since there is nothing really holding me back. But reviews would be handy in getting even faster updates (: Just saying..._**


	11. Chapter 11

Derek laughed as Meredith flopped down onto her couch.

"Three days is all it took you to move out of mom's and into your new place. Were you in a rush or something?"

Meredith giggled as she too, flopped down, but into Derek's awaiting arms.

"I don't know… I just felt like I was crowding your mom."

Derek wrapped his arms around her waist as she positioned herself comfortably. "Mom is going to miss having someone around all the time."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "She's still got you there."

Derek let out another laugh. "I don't count. She can't wait to get me out of there. Besides, I don't think I'll be spending too many of my nights there anymore…"

Meredith spun around in his arms and a playful look appeared in his eyes. "Derek!" she exclaimed as he leaned in to kiss her. She didn't fight. It felt so good to have him so close, and all hers.

It had been a week since Derek had found out about her pregnancy, and after a few stressful days of dealing with the dirty looks at work, Greg had given her a few extra days off. She had taken those days to get her stuff packed up and moved into her new apartment. But now, she was exhausted.

Derek looked around the living room. "I don't know how you got yourself all moved out in three days."

Meredith shrugged. "It's not like I had much Derek. I didn't exactly plan on moving out here when I left Seattle."

Meredith noticed the change in Derek's eyes right away. The twinkle went away instantly, replaced by pain and shame.

"But Derek, I love it here, and I think this is the happiest I've ever been. So it's all for the best."

Derek nodded slowly, but wasn't quite convinced. "But Meredith… I caused you so much pain, and I… I can't express how lucky I feel to have found you. I mean, why didn't you leave, when you found out that these people… all these people who had taken you in were my family… I mean… it just doesn't make sense…"

Meredith shrugged as she grabbed Derek's hand. "I don't know exactly. I think I started believing Natalie after a while and wanted you to find me. So I stayed in the place that you'd more than likely come to, that wasn't Seattle. I just hadn't expected it so soon…"

Derek squeezed her a little tighter as he let his lips linger on her neck, and trailed soft kisses down her jaw. "I knew I would find you eventually. And I wasn't giving up until I had you safe in my arms."

Meredith smiled as Derek reached her lips. Their kiss was loving but fierce all at once.

"So how are we going to celebrate your new place?" Derek asked, with a gleam in his eye.

Meredith giggled as she got up. "Lunch."

Derek seemed taken aback. "L…Lunch?"

Meredith turned around with an innocent look on her face, but a devilish grin in her eyes. "Have any better ideas?"

She didn't have any time to protest, or any chance. One second she was standing next to the doorway into the kitchen, the next she was in Derek's arms, his heavy breath on her neck.

"Much, much better ideas."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

It was nearly super time when Meredith and Derek walked into Carolyn's kitchen. Meredith hadn't even spent the night at her new place yet and already Carolyn missed having her around. She had grown on her, and she couldn't help but think about that night where she had found her on the bench. Carolyn wasn't naïve, and she didn't usually pick up strangers on benches, but there had just been something about her, a pull… now she couldn't think about her life without Meredith in it.

"You two look in shape," Carolyn said with a smile as they sat down at the island. "The moving didn't take too much energy out of you?"

"It wasn't the moving that took the energy out of us," Derek said with a chuckle.

"Derek Shepherd!" Meredith screeched as she punched him in the shoulder. She was bright red.

"Ow," he faked his pain. "That wasn't very nice."

Meredith put her head in her hands. "You're terrible Derek. I mean… seriously? Seriously?"

Derek laughed as he pulled her closer to him. "Meredith, you're pregnant. With my baby. Don't you think she's put two and two together?"

Meredith stared at him with her jaw dropped. "I… that… no," she said as she pointed her finger at him, got up and barged off.

Derek stopped laughing when he realized she was actually upset with him. "I'll go check on her."

Carolyn stopped him. "Give her a few minutes."

Derek looked up to his mother. "I was just playing around. I didn't think it would make her this upset. I…"

Carolyn made her way around the island and took a seat beside her son. "Like you said, she's pregnant Derek. She's going to have mood swings and she's not going to be herself because of her hormone levels. You need to watch yourself."

Derek nodded. "I… still want to go see if she's alright. I… I don't want her resenting me."

"She'll get over it Derek. You just watch. These next few months are going to be more than you bargained for."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

It was only when she reached the top of the stairs that Meredith realized she technically didn't have anywhere to go. The bathroom, she figured, was still an option. She could lock herself in and just sit on the toilet seat.

But she didn't go down to the bathroom. She went down the hall the opposite way and found herself in the room she had spent the last month and a half in. The room that had brought her so much comfort and security. The room that had once been Derek's.

But now it was as it had been that first night. Minus her bag in the corner of the room. She had sort of made it her own with the weeks she had been here. Her clothes had been scattered a little bit everywhere, her phone charger always on the bedside counter, along with a picture of her and Cristina she had found in some of the boxes that had been shipped to her. The picture on the wall of all of her friends, her fellow interns, was no longer there. No, it was now hung up on the wall that would soon be a nursery.

She was pregnant. It had been nearly a month since she had found out, but she had only started letting it sink in since Derek had found out. And having spent so much time on her own these last few days had really given her the opportunity to let it sink into her core.

Meredith Grey was going to be a mother.

She fell onto the bed and did nothing but stare up at the ceiling.

Her life was changing. Things would never be the same. She was no longer the Meredith Grey who picked up random men in bars, in the beginning to piss off her mother, than finally because she felt like she couldn't do better anyway. She was no longer the Meredith Grey who had no one to rely on, the Meredith Grey who always needed to fend for herself.

She was no longer the Meredith Grey who felt unloved.

She had people who she could count on for support, she had people who would be there by her side, who she could rely on no matter what. She had people who loved her unconditionally.

And one of those people just happened to be standing in the doorway.

"Meredith…" Derek whispered as he approached her and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry… I should be more sensitive."

Meredith finally shifted her attention from the ceiling to look at Derek and smiled. "I'm a whole new Meredith Grey, Derek. I'm not the Meredith Grey I was that first night at Joe's. If I had been, we wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have brought you home, we wouldn't have spent a year chasing each other in and out of sanity. I wouldn't be pregnant. But here we are, sitting here, together, a baby on the way, and I don't think I've ever felt…"

"More different?" Derek tried filling in when Meredith stopped.

Meredith bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't think I've ever felt happier." She reached over and grabbed Derek's hand and brought it to rest on her stomach. "This is everything most women dream of. Yet me, Meredith Grey, the one who lived the crappy life, gets it. It's a twisted universe Derek, but for once, I'm glad I'm a part of it."

Derek smiled down at her, his hand still resting under hers on her stomach. He gently lifted his hand just high enough to pull her shirt up and rested it on the skin of her stomach, the small barrier that separated his touch from their baby. It was one of the most incredible feelings he had ever experienced.

"Kiss me," Meredith whispered after a few minutes in comfortable silence. "Prove to me that this is real, that you're really here."

Derek smiled brightly as he leaned down and gave her just what she asked for.

"I'm really here Meredith, and I'm not going anywhere."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

When they had returned downstairs, Carolyn was no longer alone. Natalie and Cory were seated at the island, and Mark was leaning up against the counter, a beer in his hand.

"There you two are," Mark exclaimed. "We were wondering where you guys had disappeared to. Fulfilling a craving?"

"Shut up Mark," Derek answered, his voice full of warning. "We were talking. Grownups talk to each other, especially those in grown up situations. So either shut up, or grow up."

Natalie laughed. "Might as well just tape his mouth shut. It's not like he'll ever grow up."

"Agreed," Cory said as he raised his beer and took a sip.

"I'd have to say I'm on their side too Markie," Carolyn said as she entered from the far side of the room, coming out just behind Mark himself. "Maybe someday though…"

"Don't keep your hopes up though," Natalie added which caused even more laughter.

"Haha very funny," Mark said sarcastically. "Let's all make fun of Mark."

"We're sorry, it's just too easy," Meredith said with a smile.

"Why don't you boys go out and check on the barbecue. Man bonding time," Carolyn suggested. The three men got up from their seats and headed out the back door onto the patio. "Well that was easier than I had expected it to be."

Meredith and Natalie both smiled. "We will always have the upper hand over the men in this family," Natalie commented. "Always."

"I'm going to go see what the kids are up to," Carolyn excused herself and made her way to the stairs leading to the basement. She closed the door behind her, giving the two women some privacy.

"So how is the new the place coming along?" Natalie asked as she grabbed herself a can of pepsi from the fridge. She sat back down at the island, and Meredith followed, taking the seat Cory had just vacated.

"It's great. All moved in," Meredith said, relief in her voice. She was glad it was all done. She didn't think she could handle one more day of packing and unpacking.

"I'm going to have to drop by sometime soon," Natalie said with a smile. "Check the place out myself. And get a look at what I can do with your nursery."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "You've got plenty of time Nat. You've got, what? Seven and a half months?"

Natalie laughed. "You say that now, but it goes by fast, trust me."

Meredith smiled. "I was supposed to fear pregnancy and babies… I was made to fear any kind of love. But you guys… you guys changed me. For the better, that is. I don't fear any of it anymore. I'm happy, you know?"

Natalie smiled. "I understand. Well, I think I understand. I never went through what you went through, but I know what it's like to have everything change. I was sick, as a kid, I was diagnosed with a hundred and one things. I went through my teenage years taking pills and having people treat me differently because of whatever I had. I started resenting everyone and everything around me, but I finally figured out that it wasn't helping me, being upset about it wasn't going to change anything. I started talking to people, therapy for this disease no one seemed to be able to cure. Spent more time with the people I loved. I was sick when I met Cory, and spending time with him made things easier.

"I went to this one specialist when I was about 21. He gave me another prescription, but this time told me to forget about everything else I was taking. I didn't know what to think, but one day I woke up and didn't feel like I was going to fall to pieces. It was a year later, on the exact date that Tessa was born. I had thought I would die because of this disease no one could identify. I was sure my life was going to be a living hell. I haven't had any symptoms since that day. It was like I became a whole new person over night."

Meredith seemed taken aback. "Wow… I didn't know."

"Very few people do," Natalie said with a reassuring smile. "And now it's your turn to fight what you have fought with all these years, and one day you'll wake up and see everything clearly and know that you have been healed."

Meredith smiled. "I think I might have already."

Natalie let out a giggle. "Good. Now, to be able to truly accept it, you need to accept everything that comes with it. Have you finally accepted the fact that we love you?"

Meredith smiled. "I have, actually."

Natalie smiled brightly. "Good. And have you finally realized that Derek isn't going to leave you, that he is madly in love with you and that you are probably one of the luckiest women on the planet?"

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't go as far as making me the luckiest woman on the planet. He has his quirks, he's not perfect you know."

"No man is. Derek is probably as close as it gets. But that's not the point."

Meredith laughed. "I have finally realized that Derek is not going anywhere, and I have let myself accept that I'm in love with him too."

Natalie squealed. " Meredith! You've said it out loud!"

Meredith blushed. "It seems I have. Now if only I could say it to Derek…"

Natalie shook her head. "It won't be long, or hard. It'll come out when it needs to come out." After a short pause, Natalie jumped from her seat.

"What?" Meredith asked, afraid of Natalie's sudden change of expression.

"Do you know what this means?"

Meredith was confused. "What what means?"

"Oh my goodness Meredith! We are going to be sisters! Actual sisters! I mean, it's only a matter of time. You love him, he's obviously madly in love with you. You're going to be parents together for crying out loud! It's only a matter of time before he gets down on one knee and pops the question. I mean, he's never been like he is with you with anyone else. Even with Addie. He knows you're it for the rest of his life. Holy crap! I totally call being a bridesmaid!"

Meredith was in shock. "We've never… it's too early… I mean… He's… and I'm… and…"

"You know I'm right Meredith."

Meredith looked away. "Let's just not get too carried away. It's still a long ways away. Trust me."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Fine. But you know I'm right. Anyway, back to the apartment. You staying there tonight?"

Meredith nodded. "My first night in my own place. You should drop by."

Natalie made a face. "I imagine Derek will probably want to have you to himself tonight."

It was Meredith's turn to roll her eyes. "It's my place Nat. Not his. Not ours. Mine. I make the decisions. Besides, he's on call tonight."

Natalie laughed as she finished her can of pop. "It won't be long before he's pretty much moved in there. You'll want him there during these tough few months. Especially to fulfill your… cravings…" she made a face. "I can't believe I'm saying this. He's my brother."

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, but that doesn't usually stop you from interrogating me about my sex life."

Natalie rolled her eyes and laughed. "Good point. It won't be long before you guys will be christening every one of those rooms."

Meredith got up from her seat to grab herself a glass of water. "We've already gotten through about half of them."

She wished she could have captured the expression on Natalie's face. It had been priceless.

"You… what? Oh… crap! I hate you right now. I really… You lucky little…"

Meredith laughed. "Natalie! He's your brother. You shouldn't think like that!" she used her very lines against her.

Natalie laughed. "And you're my brother's pregnant girlfriend whom I happen to think of as a best friend. I can think however the hell I want and right now all I'm thinking is how proud I am of you, and how much I want to kick your ass for waiting this long before you did anything!"

Meredith laughed. "It was worth the wait. Trust me on this one."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Supper had been quite uneventful. Mark hadn't stayed very long, since he needed to be in to work for eight, and Natalie and Cory had to get the kids home to bed since it was a school night. Carolyn, Derek and Meredith had spent a quiet evening just relaxing. Derek had left around nine thirty, needing to be in to work at ten. Carolyn, not wanting to be alone quite yet, tried her best to keep Meredith around just a little bit longer by asking questions, or just bringing up casual conversation topics.

"Back to work tomorrow?" Carolyn asked as she came in with the mugs of hot chocolate. Meredith took hers gratefully and smiled as the wonderful taste reached her lips.

Meredith nodded. "Yeah. I'm supposed to be on Derek's service too. I haven't had any time on his service since his arrival, so I'm sort of worried a little bit about that. But hopefully it'll go just fine."

Carolyn smiled as she took a seat beside Meredith. "I hope it does too sweetie. You have enough to worry about."

Meredith shook her head. "For the first time since I've been here, I don't feel the slightest bit worried. Sure, work is going to be difficult, and my residency is going to be hell, but I've got people there behind me. I know I can make it through. And I've finally come to the realization that Derek, or all of you for that matter, but especially Derek is in this for the length of it. He's not going anywhere, and I know that now."

Carolyn smiled as she rested her hand on Meredith's thigh. "I'm glad you've finally figured that out."

Meredith nodded. "Me too."

"So I hear your fellow interns aren't incredibly happy with your relationship with Derek."

Meredith let out a laugh. "Melissa and Julia haven't even said a word to me since they found out except for insulting comments. I honestly feel worse for Natalie than I do for myself though. She's the one who has to deal with them. I can just ignore them."

Carolyn nodded as she sipped her hot chocolate. "And they don't know about the pregnancy yet, do they?"

Meredith shook her head. "I don't know whether things will get better or worse when they do. Probably worse."

"Have things started to get around the hospital yet?"

Meredith shrugged. "I don't know about these last few days. But neither Derek, Mark or Natalie have said anything. And you know how much Natalie loves to share gossip. She would have told me. So other than them, I think the only ones who know at the hospital are Amy, Greg and Dr Taylor… Michael. It feels weird calling him Michael. But him and Derek are friends so… Anyway, he figured it out on his own. And I'm sure Dr Saunders – Lauren – knows. Greg probably told her. But… I think that's probably it."

Carolyn nodded. "Do you think you can keep it quiet for much more longer?"

Meredith though about it then shook her head. "No, probably not. I'm sure something is going to end up slipping sooner or later."

Carolyn nodded. "Those people, the ones who know already, they'll be there to help you through this. They'll be there for you."

Meredith smiled. "Trust me. I've finally realized that I know that."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Derek had barely gotten into his scrubs when he got the page about a car accident and a patient who needed a craniotomy. He was into surgery before he even had a chance to round on his patients.

The surgery had not only been touch and go, but it was also very long, and very drug out. First with his many health issues that they needed to find ways around. The discussions over that had gone until well over midnight and still then they didn't know exactly what they were doing. But they went in anyway, or else the patient definitely wouldn't have survived. And then it was actually trying to get around obstacles. When this didn't work, they needed a plan B. When that didn't work, they needed to calculate what were the risks of leaving it how it was.

So when Derek finally got out of surgery around six the next morning, he headed straight for his office to just sit down and breath. It was something he had to do a lot more than when he started off as an intern. Just sitting down and taking a breath. It had been when Addie had come out to Seattle when it became something he truly relied on. An escape from everything. And now, it was more a time of reflection.

He was going to be a dad. That had been the thing he reflected on the most during these times in his office. That and how lucky he was that his baby's mother was Meredith. His Meredith was pregnant and going to have a baby. And his Meredith was with him, by his side.

He tried thinking about what would have happened if he hadn't come out to New York so soon. He would have been miserable in Seattle of course, but not only that, he would have missed out on the entire experience of being a dad from start until end. He couldn't imagine having gone home five years later and having another little Shepherd greet him at the door, smiling like all of his or hers cousins, completely oblivious as to who the other was. He wouldn't know what to think. Natalie would have told him if one of his sisters had had another baby. And there would have been something special about this little one. Maybe the piercing green eyes.

And walking into the kitchen, following this crowd of little Shepherds, and watching that curious little four year old Shepherd jump into his mother's arms, Meredith's arms, probably would have punctured a hole in him. The little one was definitely a Shepherd, and he was the only male Shepherd left. That little one was his son, or his daughter, and he hadn't known.

No, he didn't even want to think about it. He wouldn't. Because it didn't matter, it wasn't relevant. Meredith was within reach, and Derek knew that they were in this together.

A sudden knock on his office door caught Derek off guard, and he hadn't even had the chance to invite whoever it was to come in before the door flung open and in came a very nervous looking, distraught Mark Sloan.

"Mark? What is it? What's going on?"

The first though to come through Derek's mind was that Meredith, or his mother, or one of his sisters or even one of his nephews or nieces had been hurt. But something about the way Mark paced the length of the small room told him it was something else completely.

Mark hadn't even said a word when his pager went off. Derek watched as he grabbed it, took a look and swore.

"Shit. I really need to take this."

"Mark!" Derek exclaimed as Mark went for the door. "Tell me what's going on?"

Mark couldn't look him in the eye. This wasn't good. "I… I can't explain right now."

Derek didn't understand. "What is it?"

Mark just shook his head as he rushed out. "I'm sorry Derek."

Derek followed him out of his office, but Mark was already down the hall. "Mark!"

"Just know that I'm sorry!" Mark called back before disappearing around a corner.

Derek just stared straight ahead, completely confused as to what had Mark so … he didn't even know how to describe Mark's behavior.

"What's up with Mark?"

Derek spun around at the sound of the voice and immediately brought Meredith into his arms. "Oh good you're okay."

Meredith was confused. "What? Why wouldn't I be?"

Derek pulled away and looked back to where Mark had just disappeared. "I… I don't know… But when Mark showed up in my office completely at a loss for words and the only thing he could do was say 'I'm sorry' I didn't know what to expect… but I thought maybe something had happened to you… but you're okay."

Meredith smiled slightly. "I'm okay. So you have no idea what's wrong with Mark?"

Derek shook his head. "Not a clue, other than he's sorry about whatever it is."

Meredith nodded. "Well then, it looks like we'll have to figure it out ourselves."

Derek nodded too as he led her back into his office. "By the way, what are you doing up here anyway?"

Meredith smiled as Derek pulled her down onto his small couch. "Well when my attending didn't meet me at the nurse's station at the beginning of my shift and I had been waiting for him for ten minutes, I figured I'd go looking for him. It's the first time he's had me on his service and so far he's making a terrible first impression."

"Who's service are…" Derek stopped as he thought about that. "Oh crap! I'm so sorry Meredith. I had completely forgotten. I had a surgery this morning and I –"

Meredith laughed and cut him off. "Calm down Derek. It's okay. We've all got a lot on our minds. I'm not angry with you."

"Any other intern, it would have been fine. But Meredith, this is the first time you're on my service here, the first day we get to work together in over a month. It's special, I should have remembered I should have –"

Meredith cut him off again, but this time with a kiss. "It's okay."

Derek nodded. "Okay."

Meredith grabbed his hand and led him back out of his office and they headed down the hall together hand in hand. They hadn't even made it to the end of the hallway when they ran into Michael, who seemed to be heading towards his office.

"Michael! How are you?"

Michael looked up to Derek and smiled hesitantly. "I'm good…" he said, a little unsure of Derek's attitude.

Meredith and Derek exchanged a look at Michael's hesitancy. "What's up with everyone today?"

Michael looked around then at Derek. "You haven't heard…"

Derek knew this was what he wanted to know. This is what Mark was going to tell him.

"Heard what?" Meredith asked in his place.

Michael looked back and forth between the two of them. "I… I overheard a few interns talking last night. They were gossiping… and you know how much the two of you are on the top of the gossip list. So… so I listened. To make sure it was nothing bad. But…"

"What is it?" Derek asked, unsure he wanted to know the answer.

"It's gotten around Derek, and I'm sorry to the both of you. But… people know… and a pregnant intern is at the top of the gossip chain. Especially when they all have reason to believe that the father is an attending."

Derek immediately squeezed Meredith's hand as Meredith looked up to him. He kissed the top of her head softly, reassuringly. That's when everything made sense.

"Mark… Mark was the idiot who couldn't keep his mouth shut. He told someone, and it got around. That's why he came up here to say he was sorry. When I get my hands on him…"

Michael stopped him. "No… no I know Mark didn't say anything. One of the interns caught a glimpse of the blood test Meredith had gotten done last week when she was admitted. Mark didn't say anything…"

They were both confused now. "Then why was Mark sorry?"

Michael looked at both of them before continuing. "People around here, they know the two of you are together, but they don't know about your past… they've all done their calculations and from the time of your arrival here Derek and the information on the blood test… it doesn't add up. They think…"

Michael didn't have the chance to finish. Meredith cut him off. "Oh crap. They think Mark's the father."

**Duhn duhn DUHN ! Hahaa I sure like my cliffhangers (; Hope you guys all enjoy this one ! Don't forget to review !**


	12. Chapter 12

_Michael didn't have the chance to finish. Meredith cut him off. "Oh crap. They think Mark's the father."_

Michael took one glance at the expression on Derek's face and knew that this hit him hard. Meredith, on the other hand, didn't seem as worried or bothered by it. Until she too noticed Derek's expression.

"Derek," she said quietly. "Derek!"

He shook his head and didn't give Meredith the chance to say what she needed to tell him. "I… I don't know what to feel. He… he has an affair with my wife, my family still treats him as if he did nothing wrong, and now… now my… people think that our baby… oh God. What did I ever do to deserve all of this?"

Meredith rested her hand on his shoulder. "Derek, it'll get cleared up. I know, and you know, and he knows the truth. That's all that really matters right now, right?"

Derek finally looked her in the eye. "Yeah… sure… for now. But when I…"

"Derek, don't do anything stupid."

He nodded slowly. "I promise, I won't do something that I'll regret."

Meredith smiled as she reached for his hand. "Good."

Derek finally smiled. "Let's get to work, clear things up in the process." He then turned to Michael. "Thank you. For forewarning me. Us. I think I probably would have flipped shit if someone else had just brought it up in a conversation."

Michael nodded with a small smile. "No problem.

Derek and Meredith, once again hand in hand, continued their trek down the hall and to the elevator. Nearing the nurse's station, they saw with their own eyes that word had really gotten around and the whispers and staring weren't really helping the situation they were being faced with.

"I wonder if he knows," Meredith heard one of the nurse's whisper.

Derek could feel Meredith tighten her grip on his hand and knew she was nervous about all of this. Her fears were coming back. He gave her hand a tight squeeze and sent her a loving smile.

"Meredith! Derek!"

They turned only to come face to face with Natalie, a worried expression on her face.

"We know," Meredith said as Natalie approached.

"You… you know what?"

"About people thinking that Mark… Yeah…"

Natalie seemed confused. "What… what are you talking about?"

Derek and Meredith exchanged a glance. "Natalie, what's going on…?" Derek asked hesitantly.

Natalie looked back and forth between them, still confused. "I'd get you to explain what the hell's going on with Mark, but this really can't wait. Richard Webber is upstairs in Greg's office, and he's looking for answers."

It was Meredith's turn to be in shock. "Ans…answers? Answers about, what?"

Natalie shrugged. "I… I don't know… but I bet it has something to do with you," she said to Meredith.

Meredith looked up to Derek and he shrugged.

"Did… did he know you were coming to New York Der?" Natalie asked.

Derek thought about it. "I… I don't think so… And I mean, yeah, I resigned from Seattle Grace, but he doesn't get information about my professional life after I'm no longer one of his surgeons, so it's not like he knows that I'm working here. Or he didn't when he came. Unless…"

Meredith knew he was thinking. "Unless Greg is the one that called him out here."

"But… why?" Natalie asked.

That's where they came up short. No one knew why Richard Webber was in New York, but they figured they would find out.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Greg was working quietly in his office when there was a knock on the door. He expected it to be one of his surgeons or residents, maybe even one of the interns, so he didn't even look up from his work.

"Come in," he called, more to his paperwork than to whoever was behind the door.

When the person entered quietly and said nothing, Greg was curious. He lifted his head quickly to get a glance, but had to do a double take when he saw who was standing before him.

"Richard Webber!" he said as he got up to shake the man's hand. "How has it been? What's brought you here? How's Adele? Oh, it's been too long!"

Richard laughed. "Yeah, it has."

As he sat back down and invited Richard to join him, he thought about the last time they had seen each other. It had to have been almost ten years ago, when he was still in New York. When everyone was still in New York. It seemed they were all coming back one by one. He didn't doubt that Addison would probably end up turning up also. That could cause them some problems.

He refocused back on Richard, a great big smile on his face.

"So what brings you here?"

Richard shrugged. "I was invited to the conference tomorrow so I thought I'd stop by for a visit since I was in town anyway. I mean, I know I'll probably see you tomorrow there, but didn't think we'd have much time to catch up then."

Greg nodded. "Sounds like a reasonable enough explanation." They both let out a laugh.

"So how are things here?" Richard asked in turn.

Greg chuckled. "Things here are… interesting. The hospital's not used to drama and suddenly we've got some. And it's become personal for me so it's that much more harder to deal with."

Richard shook his head. "Sounds like everyday at Seattle Grace. You should see what I've had to deal with."

Greg smirked inwardly. _I've got what you dealt with,_ he thought. Which was in a way true. He had two, even three of the doctors that Richard had had to deal with back in Seattle and they were causing just as much trouble here probably. Not that he minded. And the other side of it was that it was family for him. Another aspect that had made things that much more complicated. "I think I've got enough," he answered instead. He'd let the people in question talk to Richard if they wanted to.

"So how's Lauren?" Richard asked.

He thought of his wife and smiled. "She's good. Still here with me. Working her ass off like the rest of us, if not more, to make this hospital one of the best on the east coast. She's just great. How about Adele?"

Richard squirmed a little. "Things with Adele… they're rocky right now. But I'm hoping with all my heart that we figure this through and that things get better soon."

Greg nodded as he gave him a pat on the arm. "You'll figure it out. I know you will."

They chatted about everything and anything and Richard finally decided that he better get going, But before he left, he had to ask the one question that had been bothering him the entire time.

"How… How is Mered- How is Dr Grey holding up?"

Greg knew he would ask. He knew that there was something more than just a professional relationship between the two. He didn't know what it was, but he just knew.

"She's holding up pretty good. Made some good friends here, very good friends actually. She's being well taken care of and is very much liked by… _most_ of the staff. She's very much enjoying her time on Dr Taylor, or pediatrician's, service. And I do believe they had gotten to be friends in the process. Everyone sees how good Meredith is. There's no doubt she's going to be an incredible surgeon."

Richard nodded, satisfied for now. With a nod goodbye, he headed back out, knowing that he wasn't done catching up just yet.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"Okay, so what the hell is going on with Mark?"

Natalie, Meredith and Derek were just scrubbing in, alone in the scrub room. They had happened to all land with the same patient, so it gave Natalie the perfect opportunity to question them about what had happened earlier.

Meredith sighed. "Word has gotten around about…"

Natalie looked up at her best friend. "Oh Mer, I'm sorry to hear –"

Meredith quickly shook her head. "No no, I'm fine with it. It was going to get out sooner or later."

"So what's the issue here then?" Natalie asked, and as she did, she could see Derek ball his hands into fists.

"Mark is the issue, once again. Mark is always the issue when it comes to my life it seems," Derek said slowly, and with that he walked out and into the OR, leaving the girls alone, and leaving Meredith to finish her explanation.

"People around the hospital think that Mark's the father…" Meredith said quietly. She looked up through the glass to get a good look at Derek. He was still tense and she knew that if he ran into Mark anytime soon…

"Shit," Natalie mumbled. "It doesn't get much worse than that right now, does it?"

Meredith sighed. "Derek doesn't need this. Him and Mark were just starting to get back on the right track. They were civil again, starting to become friends again. And now this? It's going to break him. He was so excited about this and-"

"And he still will be," Natalie cut her off. "Meredith, he's still over the moon with the fact that you're pregnant with his baby. Don't ever doubt that. He may not show it much right now, with all that's going on with the rumors, but he's still thrilled that you're the one. He'll always be thrilled that you're the one."

Meredith nodded slowly. "Oh and now Chief Webber is here and things are definitely going to go to hell."

Natalie laughed. "Don't worry so much Mer. He left the hospital about half an hour ago. Saw him leave myself. You don't need to worry about him anymore."

Meredith smiled. "Finally, some good news."

The girls laughed as they finished scrubbing in. Little did they know that they hadn't quite escaped their worries yet.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"You did everything you could Derek," Meredith tried to reassure him as they sat up in his office. Their patient didn't make it and he felt it was entirely his fault because he was distracted. Meredith, however knew that the situation they had been put in was a tough one and that very little would save the patient. And she also knew that Derek couldn't have done anything, on his game or not.

"I'm just … it's so… Why?"

Meredith sighed as she let herself fall back comfortably on the couch. "It's how life works. When it's our time, it's our time. And life is full of loss and troubles, because without it, there would be no compassion. Derek…"

He waited for her to finish, but when she didn't, he knew he needed to ask. "What is it Meredith?"

"Have you… have you talked to Mark yet?"

Derek shook his head quickly. "No… I haven't seen him since this morning. I want to… I want… Ugh, I want to punch him, but I know this isn't his fault, I know he didn't want this… I want to punch whoever started the rumor. That would make this better. And I want to talk to Mark. I… I think I forgive him. For everything. I miss… I miss my brother…"

Meredith smiled. "Do you want to go see if we can find him?"

Derek hesitated, but nodded his head and got up from the couch.

As they opened the door, Mark's shocked face appeared in the doorway and he couldn't speak.

"I… I… just… we… I…"

"We were just going to go find you," Meredith said as she looked up at Derek. She was expecting anger in his eyes, but there was nothing but pain and forgiveness. She was proud of him.

"We need to talk," Mark managed to get out.

Derek nodded as he invited Mark in. "Yeah… we do."

Derek and Meredith resumed their previous seats on the couch and Mark opted for a chair pushed up against the wall. They stayed quiet for a few seconds, but Mark broke the silence, not able to handle it any longer.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for all of this, I didn't want this and I don't want you guys to hate me for it. I… I want them to stop, just as much as you do."

Mark was mostly afraid of Derek's reaction. He knew Meredith understood. She knew as much as he did how people could have come to that assumption. They were close. Sibling like however. But people on the outside could always mistake that and turn it into something… else. But Derek…

"I know," Derek whispered, his hand holding onto Meredith's tightly. "I…I'm not… Mark, I'm not mad at you," he finally let out in one breath.

Mark was shocked. "You're… you're not?"

Derek shook his head. "This was out of your control. And I know there is nothing going on between you and Meredith. I'm… I'm starting to trust you again. That's a big deal. And I don't want this to change want we've gotten to. So, let's get it all cleared up and go back to being top on the gossip chain," he finished with a laugh and a roll of the eyes. Meredith and Mark joined him.

"I'm… I'm relieved Derek. I… Thank you, for giving me a second chance in the family. I really missed you bro."

Derek smiled. "I missed you too. Even if you are a man whore ass hole most of the time."

"I'm changing! I promise!"

They all laughed again.

"I'm just relieved you guys are okay again," Meredith said. "I'm going to see if I can find Natalie, leave you guys to yourselves."

And with that, she was out the door. She stood just outside for a few moments, smiling to herself as the two men reminisced about this childhood days, knowing that they were back to where they should be.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Carolyn was humming as she made her way around the kitchen. It smelt so lovely, and looked even more lovely. There were vegetables of all sorts being cut, chopped and cooked all around the kitchen, there was an incredibly large roast in the oven, her fresh biscuits were making the entire place smell wonderful and so on and so on. The kitchen was full of food, something she was used to. Tonight was going to be a great night.

It was no special occasion. It just happened that all of her kids were off of work tonight, the four currently working all getting off at the same time on top of that, and she was just in the mood for a great big get together. Things were looking up for them. For all of them. They were all in a good spot right now and she couldn't be more excited about it.

"It's incredible how quickly Meredith fit into the family," Amy said as she peeled the potatoes. "We all love her, and the fact that her and Derek… I mean, come on mom, what were the chances?"

Carolyn smiled. "I don't know how it happened, but I'm glad it did. The two of them, that's what forever looks like. They remind me so much of your father and me at that age. So in love… the way they look at each other…"

Amy rolled her eyes and laughed. "We all see the way they look at each other. Their too damn adorable. So much different than with him and Addie. I mean, they were okay together, but after seeing him with Meredith… There's no way he'll ever get over her. There's no way _we'll_ ever get over her. It's…"

"Like a piece of a puzzle. We were missing something, and she was the lone piece that fit into the mess of us. She's… she's changed us," Carolyn added with a smile.

"All my kids love her, Nat's kids all love her. They haven't even asked about Addison since Derek got here. I mean, most of them don't remember Addie all that much, but Meredith… they'll remember Meredith. They're attached to her."

"And soon enough…"

Amy smiled. "Soon enough there will be another little Shepherd."

"Isn't it exciting? Derek's first… it feels like we've been waiting too long for this."

Amy laughed. "We have, we've been waiting much too long. But the time has come and it'll be quite the adventure."

Carolyn looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was nearing five o'clock. "They shouldn't be long."

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Amy and Carolyn exchanged looks and when Amy showed no knowledge as to who their guest could be, Carolyn made her way to answer the door.

"Richard!" she exclaimed. "What, what are you doing here? What, I mean, wow! It's great to see you! Come in!"

Richard laughed. "I hope I'm not being a bother. I realize it's falling on the supper hour, but I had so much to do today, so much catching up. I was going to wait until later but I was in the neighborhood and-"

"Nonsense! I'm just waiting for the rest of the gang for supper. Join us! There is plenty for everyone!"

Richard shook his head. "I don't want to overstep… I mean I didn't even tell you I was coming to-"

"You're staying for supper Richard and that is final."

Richard smiled. "I guess I can't say no to you, can I?"

Carolyn laughed as she led him back into the kitchen so she could finish up supper.

"So what are you doing in New York?"

"Here for a convention. It's only a few days long, so I wanted to get as much of my visiting in as possible today. Convention starts tomorrow and so I wouldn't have much time after that."

Carolyn nodded. "How's Seattle?"

Richard laughed. "Rainy. But good. Hospital is as active as ever, patient wise as much as doctor wise. You couldn't even imagine how much drama can go on in that place."

Amy and Carolyn exchanged a look. "I think we have an idea."

Richard brushed off the comment and turned to Amy. "How are things with you Amelia?"

Amy laughed. "Things are good. Hectic. Being an intern on top of being a mother is probably the toughest thing anyone could try and pull off, but it's good. Thank god for Julian."

Richard laughed. "I was in to the hospital today actually. Thought I spotted Natalie, but I didn't have the chance to talk to her. But I got in and talked to Greg."

Carolyn smiled. "He should be stopping by with Lauren later on too. I invited them over for supper, but they were both working late so… I know what it's like though. I raised five doctors."

"Five incredible ones at that," he said, looking over at Amy.

Amy laughed. "I'm working towards it."

Richard nodded, but spaced off a little at the mention of amazing doctors and Amy's internship.

"There's something eating at you, isn't there Richard?"

He shook it off. "No… it's nothing… I don't want to worry you with my issues."

Carolyn crossed her arms, gave Richard one look and he sighed.

"I… One of my best interns, she came out here not too long ago after a situation…" Carolyn and Amy shared a hidden look as Richard went on. "She was very promising, and it's not often I was especially interested by interns, but this one… She was going to be amazing. And it was personal too. I knew her mother quite well and I had promised her I'd keep an eye out on her. I failed. Greg gave me little information… I was hoping I would run into her at the hospital today, but I couldn't just wander around and… Anyway, enough of my problems. I just needed to get that out."

Carolyn looked at Richard, but her eyes went passed Richards to the person standing just behind him.

"She's fine."

Richard turned around quickly when he heard a voice behind him. He nearly fell from his seat when he noticed Meredith standing there with Natalie. Meredith Grey. In Carolyn Shepherd's house. It just…

"Meredith…" he mumbled. He turned back to Carolyn. "How… I mean…"

"We met when she got here from Seattle. She needed someone to take care of her, I needed to take care of someone. We filled a hole in each other and she's been a part of this family ever since."

Richard couldn't believe this. He turned back to Meredith. "Meredith… You… I mean…"

Natalie laughed. "Oh Richard, it's so nice to see you too! I mean it's been what? Five, six years since we last saw you?"

Richard looked over to Natalie and laughed. "I'm sorry. It's so great to see all of you. I mean, you guys made me feel like part of your family. All of you Shepherd's are important to me. I'm just still in shock."

"You never get over it," Meredith said. "The shock I mean. I'm still not over it and it's been a while since I've been here. But I'm happy here," she looked at Carolyn. "I think I've found where I belong."

Richard nodded. He didn't know what else to say in that moment, but he knew he needed to get more information out of one of them later. The big question floating in his mind was the biggest thing right now. What about Derek in all of this? Did he know? Did they know he wasn't in Seattle anymore? Did Meredith know he wasn't in Seattle anymore? And what if he came home? What if he were to find Meredith with his family? How would he react? How would she react?

But he'd ask later.

"The kids are all downstairs," Carolyn said to Natalie when the silence became a bit too heavy. "Supper should be ready soon so they might want to get washed up. Where are the boys at?"

"Our place," Natalie said quickly. "They're bringing over dessert. Cory figured he could extra hands to carry the pies and the drinks over."

Carolyn nodded. They could get here any moment.

"Why don't we go sit in the living room?" she asked, noticing how awkward Richard and Meredith seemed.

"Sounds good," Meredith answered.

"Yeah," Richard said as he got up.

Carolyn knew they needed to talk. Meredith had practically vanished from his life, and she could tell he cared deeply about her. "I'll be right with you two. I just need to check on the roast."

They nodded and the two went and sat in the living room.

"So… how are you enjoying New York?" Richard asked, trying to start a casual conversation.

"New York is good," Meredith answered. "Not so rainy," she added with a laugh.

Richard laughed too. "I still do miss the sun. You planning on staying out here?"

Meredith didn't need to think about it. "I am actually. I've got things keeping me here, a family here. They're like my family Chief and I can't imagine going on without having them around."

Richard shook his head. "First of all, I'm not your Chief anymore so you're going to call me Richard. Second… I don't want to make things hard or anything, that's not my intention, but this… this is Derek's family Meredith. And I know what went on, what was always going on between the two of you. And I have a feeling that the reason you ran… He'll want to come see his family eventually. Are you going to be able to handle… whatever it is?"

Meredith looked at him with a serious expression and then smiled. "I'll be fine, trust me on this one."

Richard looked at her skeptically. "I just-"

"I could use an extra few hands out here," Carolyn called from the kitchen. Meredith and Richard both got up, Richard hoping they'd get back to their conversation, Meredith knowing his words would soon be proven wrong.

As the gathered up the final few things for supper, Carolyn and Richard started getting the table ready. Soon, the table was covered with all those foods Carolyn had spent her entire afternoon around and she smiled at a job well done.

Richard had gone into the dining room with the utensils when they heard the front door open.

"We've come bearing desert!" Mark's voice boomed. They were soon in the kitchen with pies, beers and extra juice boxes. Meredith noticed Richard coming back from the dining room when he stopped. His gaze had landed on Mark, and he was shocked to see that he was still an important part of the family. But she lost her view on Richard when a familiar body got in her way. She looked up and Derek smiled and kissed her quickly.

"I've forgiven him," Derek said quickly. "I have forgiven Mark."

Meredith shook her head, but she was still thinking about what Richard had just seen.

"Umm Derek?"

He looked at her and noticed her expression. "What is it love?"

Meredith pointed over his shoulder and Derek turned to come face to face with an even more shocked Richard Webber than any of them had seen that day.

It went really quiet, eerie quiet. Richard was shocked to see Derek, Derek didn't know what to say and everyone else didn't want to get involved.

Meredith was the one who broke the silence with a laugh.

Richard and Derek both shifted their attention quickly from each other to Meredith, both wondering what the hell was so funny.

"Come on, let's go eat," Meredith said as she grabbed Derek's hand. She giggled a little more and said with a smile. "You just never know what'll happen at the Shepherd's, do you?"

Everyone else stayed quiet but Carolyn couldn't help but chuckle. "One big happy, full of surprises family now, aren't we?"

Everyone else, slowly, started laughing before the entire room was in a fit of giggles.

"This was so unpredictable, I should have seen it coming," Richard said to Derek as he smiled around at all the happy faces.

"I know what you mean," he looked at Meredith laughing with Natalie and Amy. "I know what you mean."


	13. Chapter 13

**Here you go everyone ! (PS - If you want the extended version of my Author's note, check put the update on_ Ever Ever After_. There you shall find my rant about last nights horror. Anyway, enjoy! I'll be posting two chapters tonight to make up for the season finale ... :( But two chapters is good ! (:**

I feel like this was a bad idea Derek," Meredith says into her cell phone as she walks through the doors of the hospital, Mark at her side.

"Meredith, if I could trust Mark alone with you for an entire two days, you can do this."

Meredith sighed. She stopped as soon as the coming and going of both dark and light blue scrubs took over. She had gotten so used to those green ones of New York Pres that it kind of took her by surprise. But she took a deep breath and continued forward.

"You'll be fine," Derek added before the two of them hung up, knowing it would only be a day before they saw each other again. It wasn't that she couldn't handle being away from him. She had just needed the moral support from someone who understood her.

"Come on Grey," Mark said with a smile. "It can't be all that bad to be back, can it?"

Meredith looked around and a small smile came to her lips. It did feel kind of nice to be back. She thought about how all of this came about…

_They had been around the dinner table that night, about a month ago, when Richard had come to visit. Things were light, but Meredith couldn't help but notice the many glances Richard sent her and Derek's way_. _When finally Richard realized he had been caught, he spoke up._

"_You two should really come to Seattle sometime for a visit." As he said this, he watched for Meredith's reaction. _

_Her face was blank._

"_It's not a half bad idea," Derek tried to argue, watching Meredith. Still no change in her expression._

"_You know…" Richard started. He took a pause, but continued. "Your friends are really missing you. Especially O'Malley and Steven's. They've both been going through a lot lately and you always seemed to be able to figure it all out. And Yang… There's something different about her since you left. I mean with Burke being shot and more distant from everything, and you gone, she seems almost lonely…"_

_Meredith looked down at the table before speaking an almost inaudible okay._

"_Is that a yes?" Derek asked excitedly. _

_Meredith looked up at him and laughed. "Why not? I mean… I said… I figured I would eventually. I… why not?"_

_Everyone gave their approving nod and exclamation. "I hope this doesn't mean goodbye!" Natalie suddenly exclaimed._

_Meredith looked up at her in shock. "A visit Nat. That's all it is. I… I love it here and I've got everything I need to be happy. Well, I've got all of you guys and that seems to be more than enough. I'm coming back."_

"_Good," Natalie said with a smile._

"_Hold on!" Mark exclaimed._

_Everyone looked at him, waiting for some reasoning as why they shouldn't go._

"_Can I come with you guys?"_

And now they were there.

"Mark?"

Mark and Meredith both spun around and Meredith suddenly felt like this had been a bad idea.

"Addie!" Mark exclaimed. He reached over to give her a quick hug but pulled away almost instantly. "You're still here?"

Addison nodded as she sent a glare towards Meredith before looking back at Mark. "Didn't feel like packing everything up again. Besides, I've made friends here. And this time I knew there was no point in chasing after Derek." She looked back down at Meredith. "He's not here, if that's why you're back."

Meredith didn't know what to say. "I… well…"

"Don't be a bitch Addison," Mark spat. "You know you and Derek were long over."

Addie glared at him. "Who's side are you on?"

Mark crossed his arms. "No one's. I'm just stating the facts."

Addison huffed and walked away.

"She's really gone bitter. Divorce doesn't suit her well."

Meredith couldn't help but smirk as Mark said this. He smiled back down at her, before winking and whispering "can't wait to see the look on her face when Derek shows up."

Meredith suddenly felt a little worried, but more than anything, hoped she could witness Addison's reaction. It would be worth it.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"Meredith! Mark! So glad you guys came!"

Before doing anything, Meredith and Mark made their way up to Richard's office to announce their arrival. They hadn't met any of their old friends in the hallways, and for that, Meredith was always relieved. She still didn't know if she was ready to face them yet.

"We said we would come," Meredith said with a smile.

"That you did," Richard replied with his own smirk. "How was the trip?"

Mark laughed. "Meredith is a terrible flyer. Sick the entire time."

Meredith sent Mark a glare. Mark knew damn well that the only reason she had been sick the entire flight was because of her pregnancy. She was at the end of her first trimester, but her morning sickness was only now getting strong. And Richard didn't know about her pregnancy. And she didn't want him to find out. Not right now. So she would punch Mark later for that.

"Yeah well Mark is terrible company," Meredith continued. "He just laughed at me the entire time. Why I agreed to coming up with him…"

Richard laughed as Meredith rolled her eyes. "Well you guys are here now, on solid ground. You don't need to be stuck together anymore. I just have one question though…"

The two of them waited for him to continue.

"Where's Derek at?"

Meredith sighed. "He couldn't get tonight off so he'll be flying out tomorrow. Should be here tomorrow night."

Richard nodded. "God, I still can't believe… all of you… Meredith, a part of the Shepherd family. Had someone of told me this would happen this time a year and a half ago when you started here… Wow…"

Meredith didn't know how to reply. But she didn't have to.

"Anyway, to make your stay just a little better, I'm giving you guys all the necessary stuff to get around the hospital. Scrubs, lab coats, pagers, tags… I can't let you assist on any surgeries Meredith, but at least you can catch up with everyone even while there on the job and your hands could be used in and around, especially in the ER. Mark… well if you're needed in surgery, you know what to do."

Meredith let out a small smile as she was passed her old stuff. "I… It's so weird…"

Richard smiled. "I know I won't be able to convince you to stay, but I want you to at least have a good time while you're here."

Meredith and Mark nodded and said their goodbyes. Outside of the chief's door, Meredith took a deep breath.

"Welcome back," Mark whispered before they started to make their trek across the very familiar bridge.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"I hope everything is going okay," Derek mumbled into his salad. Natalie shook her head and pointed to her brother, saying the same things she had repeated a hundred times already.

"You need to stop! She's strong, she's bright, she's got a great friend at her side and she's in a familiar place. She may have been worried at first, but I'm sure that when she started to make her way around the hospital, she realized that it's not as scary as it seems. Plus, I'm sure Richard had done everything possible for her to feel comfortable."

Derek let out another sigh. "I know, I know. I'll stop."

Natalie smiled. "Good. Besides, you'll be there in what? Thirty some hours?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah… I'll be there soon."

Natalie went back to her sandwich.

"I didn't tell her about this morning."

Natalie paused mid bite and put her sandwich back down. "Derek…"

"She didn't need that on top of having to deal with being back in Seattle. We'll be in Seattle, away from here for almost a week. I'll have time to tell her then."

Natalie shook her head. "If she finds out you've been hiding this from her-"

"I know, she'll be pissed and she'll hit me and she'll give me the cold shoulder. I'll tell her as soon as I think it's safe."

Natalie let out a sigh as she thought about the events of that morning.

_What used to be top of the gossip chain, Meredith and Derek, had for a little while now gone down. People stopped staring, people stopped whispering. And people now knew that Mark was not the father. They had all come to the conclusion that Meredith was just a slut and had been knocked up by some one night stand._

_This enraged Derek, but Meredith told him to just ignore it._

"_Meredith, that's our baby they're talking about! _Our_ baby. As in us! I want… I want to shout that from the rooftop, I want to be able to wrap my arms around your stomach, and whisper to OUR baby without having to worry about what people think. Because if they knew… If they knew it wouldn't be as weird. Meredith… I want this to be our baby…"_

_Meredith hadn't been prepared for that outburst. She hadn't known it bothered him so much. And she couldn't understand why it did. But she started to see his point… _

"_Derek, this is our baby. And I don't think the hospital knowing that changes anything. The people who actually care know, and isn't that all that matters? It'll get around when it does, but… it's going to get harder… For both of us… can't we just let it be?"_

_On the inside, Derek wanted to fight back. But he didn't want to be arguing with her the entire time they were in Seattle. He would drop it for now, but as soon as they got back, he would stand his ground again._

_But that all changed that morning._

_He had gone to see Meredith and Mark off at the airport then went straight to work. He was still boiling a little bit over his disagreement with Meredith from the day before. Natalie had told him to just leave it be, but he knew that she just wanted to protect Meredith. He could see in her eyes that she understood how he felt. _

"_Shepherd's an idiot for sticking around. I mean, she's hot and all, but she's damaged goods. I can't imagine how someone who could have anyone he wanted would settle for a slutty, pregnant by someone else, intern."_

_He didn't know the resident's name, but his buddy looked up over his shoulder, straight ahead, and noticed the doctor himself in question. The idiot with the big mouth turned to see what had struck his friend only to receive a punch in the jaw. It didn't knock him to the ground, but it was a strong enough blow to leave a bruise._

"_Dude, what the hell?"_

_Derek was fuming. "You don't ever, ever talk about Meredith Grey or myself like that again or you'll have more that a throbbing jaw to worry about."_

_The guy rolled his eyes. "I just wish sometime soon you would open your eyes. Us men are getting more and more whipped by those type of women and we need to make a stand. You've still got dignity man. Why waste it on raising some other man's kid?"_

_Derek let out a dry laugh. "It's called love you bastard. When you love someone, you don't let them go, even if there's a setback. You hold onto them. When you love someone like I love Meredith Grey, you realize things you never realized before. You just need to open your eyes."_

_The guy let out a huff and took a step closer to Derek, the attending not scaring him one bit. "You may love her, but apparently she doesn't love you so much back. If she did, you wouldn't be stuck in this predicament, would you?"_

_Derek wanted to laugh out loud in his face. "Predicament? You call being with a pregnant women a predicament? You want to be a family man some day? Get married, have some kids? You call wanting to start a family a predicament?"_

"_Dude, your raising some other man's family for him cause he doesn't know he's got one."_

_Derek took a deep breath and the resident thought he had won. _

"_What makes everyone so sure the father isn't in her life, huh? What makes you so sure he doesn't know? Maybe he works in this very hospital. Maybe he's someone you've worked with before, that you've all worked with before. Maybe he's standing in front of your freaking eyes!"_

_The guy was quiet all of a sudden, question marks in his eyes. His friend was now standing a little ways away, not getting involved. A crowd had started to gather, loving the entertainment. _

"_God damn it! How can you all be so freaking blind? I didn't say anything because she didn't want things to get harder. I kept my mouth shut because I would do anything for her because I'm in love with her. But enough is enough. You guys all think I'm the idiot, well jokes on you. Damn it, I'm the freaking father! I'm the father of Meredith Grey's baby and I'm not going anywhere. So shove it and learn to keep your freaking mouth shut because you're lucky I didn't knock you out."_

_He turned around, leaving everyone dumbfounded. As soon as he made any movement to leave, Natalie rushed out of the crowd and led him quietly away from all the staring eyes. When they had reached his office and the door was shut, she exploded._

"_What the hell was that Derek?"_

_Derek put his head in his hands. "I… I don't know… But damn it felt good."_

"_You…" she was pacing the office. "I hope to God Meredith forgives you for this. You… you need to tell her. She better hear this from you."_

"I promise Natalie, she'll hear it from me."

He stabbed his fork back into his salad before getting up and walking away, feeling Natalie's panicked gaze dig into the back of his head.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

As soon as she had left Chief Webber's office, Meredith had gone straight for the closest bathroom. There, she leaned over the toilet and threw up a little more. She wanted to blame it on the pregnancy, but at this point, she knew it was mostly nerves. She was at Seattle Grace. What was she thinking? How could she face everyone here, after three months, after having just disappeared, after not having spoken a word to anyone but Cristina since she had left? What would her friends, if they even considered her that anymore, think when they saw her, here, as if nothing had happened? Dressed just like them, as if she had been here the whole time. She threw up some more.

She really wished Derek was with her at that very moment.

"You okay in there Grey?"

Mark. She didn't know whether to smile, roll her eyes or worry. He was so caring, always making sure she was okay. And for once, she worried. What if she had been wrong this entire time and Mark really was going to try and get to her?

_You're thinking crazy Grey. _And she knew it. He just cared. That was the type of person he was.

"I'm fine," she said, but it wasn't very convincing. "Just go away. I'll find you later."

"Can't," he answered.

"Why the hell not?" Meredith was getting frustrated with him.

"I care to much about you baby girl. I ain't leaving your side until I know you're not going to run away."

Meredith rolled her eyes, but this time, couldn't help but smile. "Fine."

"Good."

He left her alone after that. She changed into the scrubs she had been given , all while taking her time, and once she was ready, she opened the door and stepped back out into the hall. She wasn't surprised to state that Mark was leaning against the doorframe, staying true to his promise.

"Happy?" she asked, crossing her arms.

He smirked. "Very happy. Come on, let's go see who we can run into."

Meredith felt the lump build in her throat as she thought about all the people she could run into.

It was going to be a long day.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"You'll never guess who I just saw," Izzie exclaimed as she sat down at one of the many crowded tables in the cafeteria.

"No one cares blondie," Cristina said.

"I'm listening," George said as he picked through his fries.

"Of course you are bambi. Anything Izzie says you listen. I swear, you probably have a diary full of quotes from Izzie. Izzie said this, Izzie said that, blah blah freaking blah."

George glared at Cristina. "Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?"

Alex laughed. "Same person who pisses in her cornflakes every morning. And I thought I was bad…"

"Oh shut up you evil spawn. You're just pissed because no one will sleep with you and you need to take it out on everyone else," Cristina spat as she pushed her tray back and folded her arms.

"At least I'm not the one not on speaking terms with my fiancé." He waited for a response. "Nothing?"

"He's not my fiancé," Cristina grumbled.

"That's not what other people seem to believe…" Alex had a smirk on his face that showed that he clearly thought that he had won this one.

"Guys!" Izzie said as she pounded her fists on the table. "Hello? I had something to say!"

"What!" Cristina spat.

"I just saw Dr Sloan in the hallway upstairs. As in, Mark Sloan. As in, drama."

Alex rolled his eyes, George let out a sigh. But Cristina seemed interested.

"What is he doing here?"

Izzie seemed shocked. Why was Cristina interested? "Dunno. Probably figures that now that Dr Shepherd's gone he can get back in Dr Montgomery's pants. However, he was standing outside the women's bathroom up there talking through the door."

"Hear what he said?"

Izzie thought about it. "Something along the lines of "I care about you, and I'm not leaving you." I think I heard a baby girl in there too. Oh and something about running away."

Cristina got up. "I gotta go." And just like that, she was gone.

"What's gotten into her all of a sudden?" George asked, having noticed the same thing as Izzie. Cristina was hiding something.

"I don't know, but I'm going to figure it out."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

She knew. As soon as Izzie had said that one line, about not running away, she knew who was in that bathroom. It made sense. The Chief's light mood since he got back from New York now meant something.

But why? And how?

She didn't know how she had come to the conclusion, but she felt it. She just knew that Mark wasn't talking to just anyone.

As she rounded the corner, heading towards the bathroom she knew Izzie was talking about, she stopped dead in her tracks when she realized she was right. She could just hear the gossiping nurses gobble this one down.

_Meredith Grey, back from who knows where._

She was standing still, her feet not letting her move an inch when Meredith and Mark turned around, heading in her direction. As soon as Meredith's gaze crossed hers, she stopped dead in her tracks too.

A small smile couldn't help but form on Cristina's lips.

"You didn't tell me you were coming to visit."

Meredith's panicked expression changed quickly into a smile as she rushed over to her friend. The two had never been ones for sentimental moments or comfort, but they shared a quick hug in that moment that caught both of them by surprise.

"How… I mean… Did you know I was here or something? I mean, I didn't think I'd run into you… Not this quick… But you're –"

"Izzie saw Dr Sloan here talking to a bathroom door. I guess… I guess I just wanted it to be you in that bathroom so I came to see if I had gotten what I wanted."

Meredith smiled. "I'm here."

Cristina rolled her eyes. "I see that… You couldn't even tell me you were coming? A quick phone call, a text? A simple, 'yeah, I'll be in Seattle, no biggie'. Nothing?"

Meredith shrugged. She then noticed some of the by-passers, mostly the nurses, eavesdropping, catching every word they could as to what she was doing here.

"Let's go somewhere else," Meredith suggested.

They made their way down to the basement and found an empty exam room that wasn't used anymore.

"So, anything?"

Meredith sighed. "The Chief came to New York about a month ago. He's really good friends with the Shepherd family. When he found me with them… Well he took it as a shock. But as we got to talking, he convinced me to come out for a visit. And here I am."

Cristina nodded slowly. "So you're just here for a visit?"

Meredith noticed the disappointed look on her friend's face.

"Just a visit." Meredith repeated. "Things in New York are going more than well. And with everything going on, I really need that extra family around. Carolyn Shepherd is the closest thing I've ever had to a mother and with-" Meredith stopped herself. She forgot that she hadn't told Cristina she was pregnant. "Things are going really well and I want them to stay that way for a while longer."

Cristina nodded, but was still upset. She wouldn't admit it, but she missed her person, a lot.

"I promise though that I'll visit more often," she argued. "I mean, I haven't come until now because I didn't know what to expect. But now that I've come once… It won't be so hard to make a few visits."

Cristina nodded. However, there were still a few things she didn't understand that she wanted to find out. "What are you doing here with McSteamy?"

Meredith laughed. "I had no choice. He wanted to come for a visit too, so we came together. We're really good friends, almost like siblings so we've gotten close. But not that close."

Cristina took a deep breath. "And… what about…" She didn't know if she should ask. For all she knew, that hadn't worked out again and Meredith was lonely and depressed but just hiding it.

"Derek?" Meredith finished for her. "You really want to know?"

Cristina looked up at her friend. "I just want to know why you're here with Mark instead of him."

Meredith sighed. "I could tell you a long story about how things really didn't work between us and how his family didn't want him back after all the hurt he caused by leaving so he packed his bags again and left for who knows where and no one really cares… I know that's what you'd really like to hear."

Cristina looked at her friend. "I take it that's not the case?" She left out a small laugh as she said it.

Meredith shook her head and smiled a little. "I would never give you an 'I told you so' opportunity that big without arguing."

Cristina smiled. "So…?"

Meredith laughed. "He'll be here tomorrow. He couldn't get his shift off tonight so he sent Mark and I alone together and rescheduled his flight."

Cristina nodded. "I'm glad things are working out for you guys, I really am."

Meredith gave a sad smile. "Thank you. But I take it there's more behind that statement…?"

Cristina sighed. "It's… It's Burke. I… I don't know what to think anymore. I mean, we were happy and things were going well, and then suddenly we're not talking anymore and avoiding each other at the hospital and at home… Wow at home it's really quiet…"

Meredith had never seen her friend like this before. "Did something happen to lead to all of this?"

Cristina looked up at her person. "He… he proposed Meredith… With the ring and everything… I mean… I'm not ready for that… I love him, I do… But I'm not ready for marriage… and I don't know if he just doesn't understand that or if he's mad at me or… I just don't know…"

Meredith rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Would it make you feel better if I got Derek to talk to him?"

Cristina laughed. "You've really got your man whipped, don't you?"

Meredith laughed too. "Oh, if you only knew. Do you want to know my secret?"

Cristina looked at her, questions in her eyes.

"It's called being pregnant."

Cristina's eyes turned into saucers.

"Oh my god you're pregnant?"

Meredith nodded with a smile on her face.

"How the hell did that happen? I mean, god, how the hell did that happen and how the hell did the thought make you smile?"

"Cristina!" Meredith exclaimed. "Just because you don't like the idea of babies and kids doesn't mean it's a bad thing for all of us. I'm actually excited about this!"

Cristina shook her head. "That still doesn't answer my first question. How the hell?"

Meredith rolled her eyes. "It's called sex genius."

Cristina let out a few sarcastic ha's and Meredith couldn't help but smirk. "I hope to god it's McDreamy's." She paused before adding. "I can't believe I just said that."

Meredith let out a laugh. "Remember prom night?"

Cristina nodded and then what Meredith was trying to say clicked. "Oh my god Meredith. He knocked you up three freaking months ago and you decide to tell me now?"

Cristina looked like she was going to shoot her.

Meredith put on an innocent smile. "What can I say? I wanted to tell you in person!"

Cristina didn't know what to answer to that, so instead, she laughed.

"What's happening to us Meredith?"

Meredith sighed. "We're growing."

Cristina looked over to her person before mumbling; "I miss you, you know that?"

Meredith nodded. "I know. And I miss you too."

Cristina nodded back they drifted into a comfortable silence.

It was only a few seconds before Cristina spoke again.

"You know, if you ever repeat that-"

Meredith nodded and smirked. "I know."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Mark had felt like he was intruding on an important and emotional moment between the two former best friends so he made his escape quietly and headed down to where he knew he could find the friend he missed too. However, even though he knew that the Addie he was once friends with was no longer the Addie that now lived amongst them, she was still Addison Montgomery deep down and he had to give her that. And deep down, he missed her.

As soon as she invited him into her office, he could already sense her foul mood.

"Where's your precious little Meredith Grey?" she asked as she flipped through her paperwork.

"She's capable on her own. She does know her way around the hospital."

Addie rolled her eyes. "Amongst many things."

Mark sat down abruptly in the seat across from his once best friend, his once lover and gave her one long look. "Stop being a bitch Addison and face the facts. You're divorced, you're lonely and you can't imagine life sucking more than it does right now. But it probably will. At least you're still beautiful and young. Wait until you're old an wrinkly. Then you'll be all that shit plus senile."

Addison looked at Mark confused. "Is this supposed to cheer me up?"

Mark looked her in the eye. "No, it's supposed to make you open your damn eyes. If you did, you would know that Meredith never really did anything wrong and you would hand it to her for keeping out of your business. You know as well as I do that Meredith Grey is not the problem here. You are. And until you accept that, you always will be the problem. So get over yourself."

Addison stayed quiet before she got an evil gleam in her eye. "You're sleeping with her, aren't you? You only stand up for women when you're sleeping with them .You stood up for me to Derek when we were sleeping together. It all makes sense! You and Meredith Grey. Wow, you just keep following in Derek's footsteps don't you?"

Mark pounded his fists on her desk and stood up. "I am NOT sleeping with Meredith and I am certainly not making that mistake again. And until you decide you're ready to have an actual, friend to friend conversation, I'm out. Goodbye Addison."

And with that, he was out the door before she even had the chance to reply.

**Fun in Seattle ! Next chapter is up too !**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hooray ! Two-in-one !**

As much as she was starting to feel more comfortable at the hospital, Meredith was exhausted from the trip and decided she needed to just breathe for a little while. She'd be there for a week, so there was plenty of time for catching up. She sent Mark a quick text, letting him know of her plans, and hopped into the rental car they were sharing.

She thought about the hotel, but realized how much she wanted to go back to the house. As much as she hated that house, it held a good chunk of some of her happier times as much as the crappy ones. She knew exactly where the key was, and it was luck that when she got there, the key was still in its rightful spot.

It was quiet. That house had never been that quiet. There was always someone, usually a few people, wandering around making noise. It was kind of lonely almost, with no one around.

She hadn't been there fifteen minutes when she heard the front door open and Izzie's voice.

"Sucks to be you now doesn't it?" she paused then continued. "Well I'll meet you at Joe's after your shift okay?"

Meredith watched as she turned the corner, phone in her hand, and as soon as she looked up, she gasped and dropped the phone. And she stared.

She shook herself out of her state of shock, picked up her phone and said a quick "I gotta go, see you tonight," before hanging up, never taking her eyes off of Meredith.

It was quiet for a few seconds, neither one of them sure what to say. Izzie just stared, not taking one step forward, and Meredith didn't know what she should do. So they just stood there.

But Izzie was impatient. She wasn't going to waste any more time.

"Meredith!" she finally exclaimed, a huge smile spreading across her face as she rushed to give her missing friend a hug. Meredith finally let out a breath and let a smile slip to her lips as she returned the gesture.

When they pulled away, Izzie was bubbling with questions.

"Where were you? What's going on? Are you back for good? Oh my god, I-"

"Izzie!" Meredith exclaimed, laughing a little. "Slow down! I'm here for a week. We don't need to go through all of this tonight."

Izzie looked excited, then her face fell. "A week?"

Meredith sighed as she shoved her hands in her pockets. "I moved to New York Izzie. I'm settled in there, have a job, people I can trust and count on… Family, like I've never had family before…"

"New York?" Izzie asked, as she took a few steps back. "I… I thought we were like family," she then said, referring to Meredith's last words.

"Izzie, you know that all of you are like family to me, and you always will be. But this, these people, it's different… I know it's hard to understand, and I'm not helping much by not saying anything, but… You'll understand, eventually."

Izzie shook her head, then sat down on the couch. Meredith joined her.

"Meredith," she started, "you don't know how hard it's been around here. It's been hell, and not knowing where you were… That killed us even more. I'm… I hate that you're not here anymore, but I'm glad that you're okay and that you're still standing. We heard… Well, we all know what happened that night at prom. Dr Montgomery seemed to have no shame in complaining about it to everyone. And, well, Shepherd left… I know, I know, it's not going to convince you to stay, but, things are different around here. And it's not all bad," Izzie said, finally smiling again. "I'm dating Alex," she said, and Meredith seemed shocked.

"Alex, like, Karev?"

Izzie nodded. "I know, it seems kind of odd, but he became really sweet and sensitive when I was going through Denny's death, and … well things kind of, happened, I guess for us, you know?"

Meredith nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Izzie looked back at Meredith. "So how about you?"

Meredith smiled. "Well, I'm an intern at New York pres and have my own little apartment in a nice area outside of the city. Made lots of good friends, found a family, and finally know what true love really is," she finished.

"Tell me more!" Izzie gushed.

Meredith laughed. "Remember, we've got all week."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

Meredith found herself at Joe's a few hours later, finally having been convinced by Izzie that it would be fun to get out, see people again.

"There's Izzie, in the back booth," Alex pointed out, as him and George walked into the crowded bar.

"Who's that with her?" George asked, catching a glimpse of the back of someone heads.

Alex elbowed him. "Maybe she's trying to hook you up with some chick. Since you and Callie didn't work out, she probably figured-"

"I get it," George said, rolling his eyes.

Izzie turned around when she heard the two men arguing. "There you guys are! I invited someone along."

Both men went speechless when Meredith turned around and sent them a wave.

"Meredith! What, what…" George didn't know what to say as he slid into the bunk across from the girls.

"Where the hell have you been!" Alex boomed with a laugh. "It hasn't been the same without you around the hospital. Less drama."

Meredith rolled her eyes but laughed.

They talked, caught up, but Meredith didn't tell them anything more than what Izzie already knew, which in all honesty, wasn't very much.

"Grey," someone called from behind them.

The four of them looked up and three of them were shocked to see that, even though Meredith hadn't been here for a day, she already managed to have grabbed Mark Sloan's attention. Little did they know it wasn't quite like that.

"See I told you guys he was here," Izzie said to the boys who just rolled their eyes. "Dr Sloan," she said back to him. "To what do we owe this pleasure?" she nearly scowled.

"Umm, I…" he looked back to Meredith. She shook her head, indicating she hadn't mentioned him and how they were linked. "Well I…"

Meredith sighed. "Mark, pull up a damn seat."

He nodded quickly and as he turned to go find an empty seat, Izzie spun towards her.

"What the hell are you doing? Mark Sloan? You're inviting an attending, and not just any attending, but Mark Sloan to sit down with us? Are you –" Then Izzie came to a realization. "Holy Shit! You called him by his first name. He's not Dr Sloan to you , is he? New York… Holy holy holy… You're sleeping with him, aren't you? You're-"

"Izzie!" Meredith exclaimed. But she ignored her.

"Oh wait until Montgomery hears about this one. I'd hate to be her intern tomorrow…"

"Izzie!" Meredith barked again. "I am not sleeping with Mark!"

Mark laughed as he came back and heard this line come out of Meredith's mouth. "It seems everyone has jumped to that conclusion today."

Meredith looked back up at him, and Izzie looked back and forth between the two of them, confused.

"Well what else are people supposed to think!" Izzie then exclaimed. "The two of you seem quite cozy."

"And got here together," Mark added, making Meredith roll her eyes. Izzie looked back at Meredith.

"Care to explain?" Izzie asked. The boys, who decided to just stay out of it, looked back and forth between the three of them, waiting for something to happen.

"Mark and I met up at work. We became really good friends. I had pretty much no one in New York, and it was nice to find a familiar face." Meredith altered the truth a little. They would discover it all pretty soon.

"That's it?" Izzie asked, confused. "There's gotta be more than that…"

Meredith and Mark exchanged a look. Mark decided to speak. "Meredith became like a little sister to me. After everything that happened with her and Derek, and me and Derek, there was no way I was crossing that line again, no matter the circumstances. We got along so well, we became friends so fast, and I don't know how, considering I'm, me, but I don't think of her like that. And if I ever did, well, I wouldn't survive very long…"

Meredith laughed. "You got that right."

Izzie, George and Alex exchanged a confused look, but didn't ask.

They had all week to figure this one out.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

By the next morning, the news that Meredith Grey had come back from who knows where was all anyone talked about. People who didn't even know Meredith personally were gossiping, talking about the whys, the wheres and the hows. People talked about how she and Mark had come together. But what people talked about most, was where Derek Shepherd was in all this and how he was missing out.

And Addison didn't like it all.

"Why?" she asked Richard as she walked into his office.

"Excuse me?"

"Why is Meredith Grey parading around here like she's important or something?"

Richard sighed. "Addie, I invited her. I could tell she missed this place. And I thought it was a good idea. Just like I thought it had been a good idea when I had called you up and invited you here."

Addison rolled her eyes. "We all know how that worked out."

Richard got up from his seat behind his desk. "Why do you care that she's here?" Richard asked. When she didn't answer, Richard asked "Is it because she's here with Mark?"

Addison shot her head up. "What?"

Richard took a seat on the couch and waited for her to join him. "She steals your husband, then the only other man you've loved. Why wouldn't you be mad?"

She shook her head. "Mark told me they weren't together."

Richard nodded. "I know, but at first glance, you thought that. And with all the rumors, you almost believe that maybe he lied to you. He didn't, of course, and I can assure you of that, but you don't know how to feel in all of this."

Addison nodded, than finally let out a sigh. "I don't… I really don't. I… I know that, as much as I love Derek, I'm not in love with him, haven't been for a while. And had he came in with her… I think I would have accepted that. But heaven knows where he is." She took a deep breath. "Mark, well, Mark… I love him too, but like Derek, I'm not in love with him anymore either. But just the thought that he's settle for her too when he could have had me… I sound like a bitch."

Richard laughed. "You sound like someone who's slightly jealous, and I wouldn't blame you. But Meredith isn't all to blame in here. She's a good person if you get to know her."

Addison finally accepted all of this, and stood up. "I know, but I just don't see us being friends anytime soon if that's what you want."

Richard laughed. "I would never ask you to do that. Just be civil."

Addison smiled. "I think I can manage that. Thank you, I needed that."

Richard nodded. "Anytime Addie, anytime."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"So everything's going well?" Mark asked as him and Meredith rode the elevator. They were completely alone, which gave them the chance to just talk. They were headed up to see the Chief, knowing he'd want to hear how things were going.

Meredith nodded. "They are," she answered. "They're going great actually. I got to spend the morning with Cristina, we went for a jog, caught up, then when I got here, I fit right in as if I hadn't been gone. It feels… Natural."

Mark laughed. "Is Derek going to have a hard time trying to get you to go back to New York after this?"

Meredith shook her head. "No, it won't be like that. I already miss Carolyn and Natalie and the kids."

Mark shook his head and smiled. "You really have changed Grey."

Meredith laughed. "You too." She stopped laughing when a sharp pain shot through her stomach. She gasped in pain and clutched her stomach as the pain got worse.

"Meredith? Meredith, are you okay?"

He came in closer to support her and to help her from falling over.

"It hurts! It really hurts! It-" she stopped when she felt something fluid run down her leg. Hesitantly, she looked down.

Blood.

"Oh god," she sobbed.

"Meredith, were in a hospital, everything will be okay."

Just then, the elevator opened, telling them they had reached their destination. When Mark looked up, he noticed Addie standing there, shocked at what was going on.

"Oh God, Meredith," she came in. "Are you okay? What's going on?"

Mark looked up at Addison. The woman he had once loved. The woman who had been married for a decade to a man that had disappeared on her. To a man who had fallen in love with the woman now sobbing in pain in his arms. The father of the baby who was most definitely in danger right now.

But she was also the woman that saved babies for a living.

"Addison, I think she's having a miscarriage."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

As soon as Derek had gotten to the airport, he smiled. He was in Seattle. Seattle. He didn't think he'd come back, especially not this quick after having just left, but he was there and the one thing on his mind was finding Meredith.

That, and ferry boats.

He pulled out his cell, and called her. He knew she'd be happy to hear that he was here, and earlier than expected too. But when she didn't answer, he frowned.

_She's just really busy catching up._

So he tried Mark. No answer there too.

He lugged his suitcase and went and waited for a taxi.

_Whatever, _he thought. _I'll get to surprise them._

As the taxi made its way to the hospital, his mind kept flashing back to that small box buried away in his carry on. On his way to the airport, his mother had given him the shock of his life.

"_Take this," she said, without warning, without anything having led up to it. They had been talking about his land in Seattle, and what he planned on doing with it. _

_He looked at the small box his mother had passed him._

"_Open it."_

_He opened it slowly and gasped as he saw the beautiful engagement ring._

"_Mom, I-"_

_Carolyn looked over at her son, and smiled, tears in her eyes. "She's perfect for you Derek. The entire family loves her, and soon enough you'll be a family of your own. You may say, it's too fast, or she's not ready, but Derek, I know that there is no better time. You two met in Seattle, you fell in love in Seattle, and you conceived your child, in Seattle. God knows how long it'll be before the two of you are back there again. Especially with the baby on its way. Derek-"_

_Derek nodded quickly as he wiped away one of his own lose tears. "Thank you Mom. You… you know how much I want to do this. She may scare easily when it comes to commitment, but I truly believe that you guys have changed her and she now sees that family and love isn't as scary as it once seemed."_

_Derek smiled an enormous smile and his mother returned it._

"_Now, there better be a ring on her finger when you get back."_

"There will be" Derek muttered under his breath as the cab pulled into the Seattle Grace parking lot. He paid the driver than hopped out of the car, ready to find his Meredith.

It was almost out of luck that the first person he ran into while making his way to the entrance was Cristina Yang. He smiled as she noticed him heading her way.

"Yang," he said as he came to a halt beside her.

"Shepherd," she answered, attempting a small smile.

He then realized he didn't know how much Meredith's person knew about them. Had she told her about everything they had gone through? Or anything at all?

But Cristina knew.

"Her and Mark are somewhere inside. And I know, about everything. Including the baby. So… I guess I could say congratulations."

This time a real smile crossed Cristina's face and Derek knew it was sincere.

"Thank you."

Yang nodded. "Now go find her." She turned around to walk away, then called out over her shoulder. "Oh and Shepherd? Every person in that hospital still thinks you're missing in action. They have no idea about you and Meredith, or that you're coming by… So don't be surprised when everyone goes wide eyed and starts whispering about what's going to happen when you and Meredith end up running into each other. That's all the gossips have been talking about. 'Look what Shepherd's missing out on.' So… Just trying to forewarn you."

Derek smiled. "Thanks Cristina."

Cristina nodded. "No problem."

With that, she continued her way to her car, and Derek turned back around to face the hospital.

"Here goes nothing."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"_Addison, I think she's having a miscarriage."_

Miscarriage.

Meredith Grey was pregnant.

She was pregnant and Addison didn't know why it bothered her so much.

Maybe because, once again, Meredith Grey had something that she wanted.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on that. She was a doctor, a doctor who saved babies, and a damn good one at that. She wasn't going to let her personal issues get in the way.

"How long ago did this start?" Addie exclaimed frantically as she paged the chief, whom she knew was just down the hall.

"Just before the elevator got to the floor."

"How far along is she?" Addison then asked, hearing Richard's footsteps down the hall.

"Umm… Three months?"

Meredith just nodded as she squeezed her eyes shut as she shook in pain.

Addison looked up to Meredith. "I need you to breath for me, okay?"

Meredith nodded and let out a few breaths.

"What's going on?" Richard boomed as he saw Addison kneeling in the elevator. It only took him a few seconds to realize that Meredith was the one lying on the ground, blood starting to pool around her.

"Richard, I need a gurney now! And a room. Find me a gurney and an OR. One without a gallery. We don't need the extra gossip."

Richard didn't ask any questions, he just went. He called down to the nurse's station to get OR 6 ready, and then went and found an empty gurney to bring back to the elevator. Once they had Meredith settled on it, he could ask questions.

"Addison, what's going on?"

Addison sent Meredith a look, and she nodded, telling her she could inform Richard. "Meredith's fetus is in danger of a miscarriage if we don't act soon. We need to go in and operate if we want to save it."

Richard went wide eyed at the sound of Addison talking about Meredith's fetus.

But Addison ignored him. "Mark, is there a father in the picture?"

Mark just nodded, dumbfounded.

"We should advise him on what's going on," Addison stated.

"He's… he's on his way to Seattle. Flying. I don't think we would be able to get the message to him right now…"

A light struck in Richard's eyes. But Mark shot him a look saying 'keep this to yourself' as they reached the OR. A team had been assembled, and Richard appreciated the fact that it was composed of all staff that weren't into gossiping, who focused solely on the job at hand.

Addison looked over at the two men, and taking in their state, she knew she would have to kick them out.

"But-" they both tried to argue.

"Out!" she exclaimed again, and they both nodded and left the woman to do her magic.

If it wasn't by pure luck, it was that someone wanted something to happen, and quickly, because as soon as they left the OR hall, the first person they ran into was Derek himself.

"Mark! Richard! I have been looking for you guys!" he exclaimed as he approached. People gossiped around him, and he ignored it. The fact that he had just exclaimed though that he had been looking for _Mark_, peeked some of these people's interest.

Derek didn't notice the grim looks on his friends' faces until he had reached them.

"What's going on? Where's…"

Richard cleared his throat. "Why don't we head up to my office?"

Derek didn't think he was going to like what they were about to tell him, but he kept quiet until they reached the chief's office.

"Okay, will someone tell me what's going on?"

Mark cleared his throat, figuring he might as well get this over and done with. "Meredith's in surgery Derek. She-"

"Surgery?" Derek exclaimed, a mix of rage and panic in his voice. "Oh God… Is she…"

"She was having a miscarriage Derek," Mark continued.

Derek fell onto the couch. "A misca… I… Our baby is…"

"Luckily," Mark continued, "Addison was pretty much there when it happened and you know as well as I do that if anyone can fix this, it's Addison."

Derek was dumbstruck. "Addison, as in Addison Montgomery, my ex-wife Addison Montgomery is operating on Meredith and our child?" He was shell shocked. "Does she know…"

Mark shook his head. "No, she doesn't know about you, or that that's your baby. And she won't find out until after the surgery. It would distract her. She would still do the surgery, she isn't that much of a bitch, but it would distract her."

Derek nodded slowly. Everything would be okay, he knew it.

"Meredith pregnant," Richard mumbled as he shook his head in disbelief. It was the first time he uttered a word since they had reached the office. "I… Meredith, the little four year old girl I still remember prancing around here, is pregnant, and Derek Shepherd… Derek Shepherd is the father…" He laughed. "Who the hell would have thought…"

"We were going to tell you Richard," Derek said. "We were going to tell you when the time was ready… It was just a lot to handle and Meredith has already been through so much, alone, and even since we've been together. We were just waiting for things to settle down…"

Richard shook his head. "No Derek, there's no need to explain. I understand. I just… I couldn't… I still can't believe it… I had a hard enough time to believe all of this when I was in New York, and now… Now you're all in Seattle and everything's even harder to believe. Wow…"

"Addison said the surgery wouldn't be long," Mark mentioned as he got up from his seat beside Derek and paced the floor a little. "Do… Should we call Carolyn and the girls, tell them what's happening?"

Derek thought about it, and then shook his head. "We'll wait, let them know when everything is okay. Mom really doesn't need to worry about this right now."

Mark nodded. "Yeah, but Mom will also shoot you when she finds out you hid this from her."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

As soon as she had Meredith out of surgery and settled into a private room out of the usual patient area, Addison sent Mark a quick page letting him know Meredith's room number and headed to an on-call room. To think. Just to think.

Meredith Grey, the woman she was supposed to hate. She had just saved her and her baby's lives. And she felt good about it.

She remembered Richard's words from earlier. It was true, Meredith had never done anything to hurt her purposefully. Could she really just forgive the woman and move on?

Addison sat there, thinking for what seemed like days, when in reality, only about half an hour had passed. She took a breath, deciding she'd go find Mark before heading back to her patient's bedside.

She didn't have to go looking too far.

"Mark!" she exclaimed as soon as she opened the on-call room door. "What the hell?"

"Nurse told me that as soon as Meredith was settled, you ran off. So I looked everywhere for you, wanting to make sure you were okay."

Addison took a deep breath. "I didn't know… Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was okay, but I've been thinking about all of this, and I've realized that I'm going to forgive everyone, anyone, whoever was at fault for all this, including myself, forget about it all, and move on. Meredith today, on the operating table made me realize that life is too short to have regrets and to make enemies. So I'm moving on."

Mark smiled, then grabbed Addison and pulled her into his arms tightly, squishing her slightly, but making her laugh.

"Mark!"

Mark pulled away and smiled. "I was wondering when I'd run into you! I've been in Seattle for a full day already and I didn't see you around. It's so good to see you!"

Addison gave him a light punch in the arm, then went a little more serious.

"How's Meredith?"

Mark gave her a look. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Addison rolled her eyes. "Surgery went fine, her and the baby are going to make it. I didn't have the courage then though to stick around and wait until she woke up. But I take it she's awake now, and that you've talked to her, and that I should probably go and talk to her too, let her know what happened and what she needs to do from now on and-"

"She's just fine right now Addie," Mark said. Addison smiled at the way he called her Addie again.

"Is she alone? You should be with her right now, she shouldn't be-"

Mark smiled at how much Addison was finally showing her caring side. "She's not alone."

Addison nodded. "Did the father show up?"

Mark nodded this time. "Yes he has, and Richard and I explained to him what had happened. He understands and he will tell you himself how grateful he is." He left out the part that the baby's father was her ex-husband. He _would_ tell her how grateful he was, after she got over the shock.

"Well, as her doctor, I should probably go and give them an update, let them know… Everything."

Mark nodded. "I'll come with. I was planning on heading down to see them anyway."

Addison nodded, and they both stayed quiet as they made their way down the hall.

"I'll be right here if you need me," Mark said once they reached Meredith's room.

"Why would I need you?" Addison said with a laugh.

Mark smiled. "I'll be here when you're done," he corrected. But he knew that she might not be able to handle this like she figured she'd be able to.

Addison opened the door, expecting a man to be sitting at Meredith's bedside. Instead, Meredith sat there alone. When Addison walked in, Meredith looked up, and didn't know what to say. How to explain what was going on, how to tell Addison she was sorry for all of this.

"How are you feeling Meredith?"

Meredith gulped, then nodded. "Um, pretty good, all things considering."

Addison smiled, then looked around the room. "Mark told me the baby's father was here?"

Meredith nodded, uncertain, and suddenly realized that Addison didn't know about Derek. She looked over to the bathroom door, and when Addison heard the knob click, she turned too.

"Flying really doesn't settle very…" he trailed off when he entered the room, only to find Addison staring at him and Meredith staring at her expression.

"Derek…"

**Ha ! Okay, so I may have given you guys two chapters tonight bu that was just mean P:  
Anyway, story is coming to an end soon. I need to put more focus on _Ever Ever After_ and this story had just been to distract me from the dry spells that _EEA _ sometimes led to. So only a few more chapters to go ! Hope you guys are still reading ! Let me know what you think !**


	15. Chapter 15

_Addison smiled, then looked around the room. "Mark told me the baby's father was here?"_

_Meredith nodded, uncertain, and suddenly realized that Addison didn't know about Derek. She looked over to the bathroom door, and when Addison heard the knob click, she turned too. _

"_Flying really doesn't settle very…" he trailed off when he entered the room, only to find Addison staring at him and Meredith staring at her expression._

"_Derek…" _

"Addison, I-"

Addison looked between Derek and Meredith, back and forth, before laughing.

Meredith and Derek exchanged a look.

"I can't believe I hadn't guessed this. I should have guessed the two of you running off, one after the other, it really should have clicked. And three months pregnant. Prom was three months ago. So you knocked her up at prom, huh Derek? I can't-"

Derek approached his ex-wife carefully. "Addison, I swear, when I left Seattle, I had absolutely no idea where Meredith was. But she happened to be in New York when I got there, and things… Addison, I am so very sorry about this…"

Addison looked over to Meredith, who was too afraid to say anything. And that's when Addison finally figured it all out.

"You guys really are meant for each other…" She admitted, finally letting herself see it. "The two of you… It's almost sad how much you two love each other. But, I… I'm happy for you." She looked at Derek, this more concerning him. "We weren't happy, we hadn't been for a while. And I truly appreciate you having given me a second chance. But this, I can see that this is real. So Derek, promise me one thing in all this."

Derek looked over at Meredith, who still hadn't said anything. He looked back at Addison and nodded.

"Promise never to hurt her again. She deserves more than that."

Derek nodded quickly. "I-"

Addison smiled a real sincere smile. "Save it Derek, whatever it is."

Derek smiled back. "Thank you then, for everything. You truly are a great person."

Addison nodded. "As are the two of you. I just hope someday I'll find something like the two of you have. Oh, and Meredith?"

Meredith looked up from where she sat staring at her hands. "Yes?"

"Keep him close and don't make the same mistakes I did. He truly is a good man."

Meredith nodded. "I know. Thank you."

Addison smiled once more before leaving the room.

As soon as the door closed, Derek turned to Meredith. "Who the hell was that and what did she do to my ex-wife? I mean, seriously, what the hell just happened there?"

Meredith couldn't help but laugh.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"That was really quite the show you put on in there."

Addison spun on her heels to face Mark, almost forgetting that he had been waiting for her. "Mark, what will it take for you to believe that that wasn't a show? I'm finally accepting it all. I'm… I feel good."

Mark smiled. "I believe you, I do. I just wanted to see how you'd react. This new Addie definitely is quite the contrast with yesterday's bitch."

Addison rolled her eyes. "Thanks Mark."

He laughed. "Anytime," he said with a wink. "But seriously, this is quite the one-eighty."

Addison nodded as she turned, knowing Mark would follow her. "I guess I've finally turned the page, and it took everything falling in front of me for me to realize I needed this."

"I'm proud of you," he said, as he wrapped his arm tightly around her shoulder, in a brotherly way. "What do you say we go out to Joe's tonight and celebrate this new Addie thing?"

Addison laughed and nodded. "I'd like that. As friends though, right?"

Mark smiled. "As friends. And maybe, you just might get lucky."

Addison glared at him. "What part of friends don't you understand?"

Mark laughed. "I meant, you might find someone there, not get lucky with me Addie! And you always accused me of having my thoughts in the gutter."

Addison shrugged. "I guess it rubbed off."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO

"You'll never guess who I just saw roaming the halls," Izzie exclaimed as she found the boys doing charts in the tunnels.

George and Alex exchanged a look, and then both looked back at Izzie. "Didn't we just go through this yesterday or am I having some weird freakish déjà view moment?" Alex asked, to no one in particular.

"Things just always seem to get weird and dramatic when Meredith is involved," George commented. "We should have anticipated more weirdness and drama. Guess that was our mistake."

"Guys!" Izzie exclaimed. They both looked back up at her, actually interested this time. After yesterday, they knew they should be. "I just saw Derek Shepherd wandering the halls."

Both boys went slightly wide eyed at this piece of information. "What the hell is he doing here?" Alex asked.

"Do you think he heard that Meredith was visiting?" George worried.

"Should we warn Meredith?"

"With the amount of gossip going around, I'm sure she's already heard that he's here and she's probably run off again."

"I wouldn't blame her," Izzie sighed. "So much for her week in Seattle. Guess we'll probably never find out the entire story."

Alex laughed. "I feel sorry for the poor intern on Montgomery's service today."

"And why's that?" The three of them turned their heads toward the voice and Alex cringed at what she had heard.

"Um, no reason."

Addison rolled her eyes. "Well you're little girlfriend Karev gets the honor of being my intern for the rest of the day." She then looked over to Izzie.

"What?" Izzie exclaimed. "But I'm on Burke's service."

Addison looked her straight in the eye, and Izzie could read something into it, something like a 'trust me'. "Well, now you're with me."

Izzie nodded, looked back at the boys, who both shrugged, and followed the attending, not really sure what was going on.

"Are you going to tell me anything about this patient?" Izzie asked when they finally made it to the elevator, figuring that Addison was just a little distracted and had forgotten about her.

"I'm going to let her tell you," Addison answered looking back at Izzie. "Do you mind telling me why you're so unlucky today?"

"What?" Izzie asked, confused.

"Karev, he said something about how he felt bad for the intern on my service. Do you mind enlightening me?"

Izzie gulped, not too sure how to answer. "Well, I… Umm… With everything, you know, with Dr Sloan and Dr Grey and Dr… Umm…"

"Shepherd," Addison filled for her. "Continue."

Izzie looked over at her, shocked. "You know Dr Shepherd's here?"

Addison nodded. "I know much more than you think I do. I know much more than I thought I could know. And you're going to too."

They had reached their floor and Izzie didn't have the opportunity to ask her what she was talking about. Addison just walked off and headed in the direction of the patient's room, and Izzie had trouble keeping up.

"This is a very special patient," Addison finally said as they had reached the door, "and her privacy is key right now, so you do not, and I mean to no one, you do not utter a word about her unless she indicates otherwise. And I'm sure the chief would agree with me, so… You understand, right?"

Izzie just nodded, not knowing what the appropriate response was in a case like this.

When Addison opened the door, Izzie braced herself. But she was not prepared for what she was faced with.

"Meredith!" she exclaimed when she finally moved into the room. "What the… I mean… Um, care to explain?"

Meredith looked up to Addison, smiled and muttered a quick thank you, which Addison returned with a smile of her own and closed the door so the two women could truly catch up and get some of what Meredith wanted to get out of the way, out of the way.

"I'm sorry I didn't explain sooner Izzie, it's just that, I never expected this to happen. I thought I'd have all week to explain little by little but it kind of just all fell apart."

"I… It's okay Meredith, but, what happened? Why are you in a hospital bed? Were you in surgery I-" then something clicked in Izzie's brain. "You're Montgomery's patient! You're…"

"Pregnant," Meredith finished for her with a nod.

"Holy shit Meredith!" Izzie said as she leaned over carefully and gave her friend a hug. "That's... Congratulations? I mean, this is a good thing, right?"

Meredith smiled and nodded. "It wasn't in the beginning, when I first found out. But things are okay now." She took a breath. "Remember how I mentioned I had a family now in New York?"

Izzie nodded. "The father's family, right?"

Meredith nodded. "I can't keep more away from you anymore Izzie, I-"

Just then, the door opened, and Derek peered in, just his head poking through the crack. "Am I interrupting?"

Izzie's eyes bulged out of her head and Meredith laughed at the expression. "Sort of Derek, but now that you have…"

Derek took one look at Izzie and realized that Izzie was in the process of finding things out. "What did I miss?"

Izzie looked back at Meredith. "You're having Derek Shepherd's freaking baby?"

Meredith laughed. "Yeah, something like that."

"Holy, shit." Izzie fell back into her seat. She looked over at Derek. "Not that that's a bad thing really, but it's just…"

"Crazy?" Derek asked. "Yeah, I thought so too. But when I got home to my family and Meredith was living with them I-"

"Wait," Izzie cut Derek off. "You were living with his family?"

Meredith laughed. "Staying in his room to be precise. It took me a few days before I realized it, but when I figured it out, I freaked. Then Mark ended up blowing my secret to Derek's sister Natalie, and finally I ended up telling Carolyn, Derek's mom, what was really going on, along with telling her I was pregnant, only to find out no more than an hour later that Derek was in New York. And do you want to know how I found out? He walked into me in his sister's kitchen and neither one of us knew the other one was there."

Izzie shook her head. "This is all too surreal."

"Trust me, I know," Derek said.

"Izzie, I knew I'd tell you all this before we left back for New York, and I hope you forgive me for having kept it this long already, but-"

Izzie shook her head. "No, I understand. And I promise, I won't say anything to anyone. But I think you should at least tell George and Alex. They really missed you too. And Cristina of course. But something tells me by the way she reacted yesterday, she already knows about all of this."

"She does," Meredith answered. "And I will tell the boys, eventually. I mean, it'll only stay quiet for so long before someone catches on to the fact that both Addison and Derek walk in and out of this room, and someone will definitely notice my disappearance and maybe even get a glance of me lying in a patient room… It won't stay secret for long, I promise you. I-"

Just then, the door opened and Cristina came in. "Mark called me, told me everything. What happened?"

Meredith looked back down at Izzie. "It won't be long before the entire hospital knows."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

And Meredith had been right. By the next evening, the entire hospital knew that Meredith was a patient, and that Addison was her doctor, which could only mean one thing. And they noticed that Derek Shepherd was always spending time in her room, along with a few other occasional visitors, and the people here, unlike the ones at New York Pres, had put two and two together. Final conclusion; all of Seattle Grace knew Meredith Grey was pregnant with Derek Shepherd's baby.

And neither one of them was ashamed of it.

"If it's a girl, you should name it Grace, you know, after the place it was conceived in, and saved in and everything else this place has done for it," Mark said as he rested his feet on Meredith's bed.

"We are not naming our child after this place," Meredith said as Derek laughed from his seat beside her on the bed. "That's bound to be extremely bad luck."

"It is a pretty name though," Richard said from his seat beside Mark.

Derek sighed. "We don't need to be picking out names right now. We still have a while to go."

"That's what all parents say. But don't wait too long, because you never know what will happen," Addison said. She was seated on Mark's other side.

It had been three full days since Meredith's surgery and her last night in the stupid hospital bed. And as much as she hated it, Meredith had to admit that some good came from all of this.

First, it gave her, well more it forced her, it gave her the perfect opportunity to tell her friends what was going on. Alex and George had been slightly shocked, but hadn't had quite the reaction Izzie had. It also gave her the time to truly catch up with all of her friends, since every moment they had a little bit of free time, they were at her side.

She had called Carolyn after Izzie and Cristina had left that first night. Carolyn had been expecting her to call, but wasn't ready for what she had called for.

"_Meredith! I was wondering when I'd hear from you! How's Seattle treating you?"_

_Meredith hadn't even had the chance to say anything before she heard a second line being picked up and Natalie's voice through the receiver._

"_You didn't call last night! How is it? Anything interesting? Drama? I can just imagine what Addison's face looked like."_

"_Natalie!" Carolyn chastised. "Stop."_

_Meredith laughed. "Everything… didn't go as planned. And I'm sorry I didn't call you guys earlier, but… There's sort of been a situation."_

"_What kind of situation hun?" Carolyn sounded worried. "Are you alright? Is everything okay?"_

_Meredith took a deep breath as Derek tightened his grip around her waist just slightly. _

"_I nearly had a miscarriage," Meredith finally said, letting a tear finally slide down her cheek. Derek noticed this and was there immediately to brush it away. _

"_Oh my goodness dear," Carolyn's voice seemed extremely worried and pained. "Is everything okay? Are you and the baby okay?"_

_Natalie just stayed quiet and listened. _

"_Everything is okay now," she said as she nodded into the phone. "Umm… Dr Montgomery was luckily not far away and –"_

"_Addison?" Natalie exclaimed. "Addison saved my niece? Wow…"_

"_You tell Addison just how thankful we are towards her, okay?" Carolyn said. "How are you holding up, emotionally, I mean?"_

_Meredith looked over to Derek, and Derek saw that the tears were about to come pouring out. "I… I discovered something very important… You," the barrier broke and the tears started coming, "you don't realize how much you want something… until… until you almost… until you almost lose it."_

_Everyone stayed quiet momentarily and Derek gave her a light kiss on the head. He knew she had been holding it in for too long and he was glad she was letting go._

"_Sweetie, if ever, and I mean ever, you need anything, even if it's just to talk, know that I will be there. I would jump on a plane and cross the country for you if you needed me to, remember that," Carolyn said and Meredith smiled. _

"_You don't need to do that, but I… Thank you. And you'll definitely hear from me again before the end of the week."_

"_I sure hope so," Carolyn said. "Well, you get your rest. Tell Derek we order him to take good care of you and to keep doing whatever it is he's doing to keep you happy and safe."_

"_And Meredith," Natalie finally spoke up again. "Always remember that we love you, all three of you. I hope everything is alright and stays alright. And I can't wait until you guys are back."_

_Meredith smiled. "Thank you, and it'll be sooner than you know it."_

And she would call them again in the morning when she was finally allowed out.

Another thing that came out of all of this was the discovery of the new Addison. And it wasn't just for her, but for all of the people currently sitting it this room, and surely others outside of it too. She didn't know exactly how, or when, or why it happened, but the Addison that had greeted them that first day was long gone and had been replaced by someone completely new.

It had sort of started, or so they mostly figured, with the surgery. Because since that day in the OR, Richard claimed that he hadn't seen Addison this easy going since she had been in Seattle. Mark mentioned how much it had made her grow and Derek was just glad to see that she wasn't as miserable as he was dreading her to be.

She had spent a lot of time in Meredith's room. With all the times she had come to check up on her, the two talked about a lot, different things, stuff that had no importance at all, and other things that did. And after only three days, Addison found herself amongst the group sitting around her bed, talking about things the redhead didn't think she'd ever want to be talking about with these people. And it didn't bother her in the slightest. Quite frankly, it made her feel like a part of something pretty special.

"Carolyn called me last night," she said as the conversation shifted to New York. "She said she wanted to thank me personally. And we just talked. It felt nice to be able to just talk to her again."

Derek smiled. "She still loves you Addie. Don't hesitate to ever call her if you need her. She would love to help in any way she can."

Addison smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

"So is there as much drama leaking through New York Pres as there is here?" Richard asked.

Mark laughed. "You wish! Well, for a little while there, things got dramatic. Meredith being pregnant and everyone thinking it was…" he trailed off, not sure if that was safe territory.

"Everyone thought it was Mark's baby," Meredith said as she rolled her eyes. "But that blew over quickly."

"And now, other than a few whispers here and there, no one really cares. It's not like here where the gossip is forever eternal."

Richard rolled his eyes as Addison let out a small laugh.

"Derek?" Meredith asked, when she turned to face him and noticed the worried look on his face.

"Huh?"

"Are you all right Derek?" Meredith asked again, as the three others exchanged a look.

"I… Well… There's something… I need to tell you something about… I…"

"And I take it this is our cue to leave," Addison said first, as she got up from her seat, followed quickly by Richard and Mark. "If you need us, you know how to find us."

Meredith said a quick thank you, and after the door shut behind them, she looked back over at Derek. "What is it?"

"I… The hospital knows Meredith… They know about the baby… That the baby is mine."

Meredith seemed shocked. "I… What happened?"

Derek ran a hand through his hair. "I… I just couldn't take it anymore! These two residents, one of them was up in my face about taking another man's problem and turning it into my own by staying with you, and he was telling me that I shouldn't stick around and that it wasn't worth it and… And I just couldn't help it… I needed to be able to stand up for us, to make them see that this isn't just some game… So I told them, with no fear, that this baby is as much mine as he or she is yours because we conceived him or her together. I needed people to know that I was the father because I was tired of hiding on the sidelines… I am so sorry Meredith… I just…"

Meredith surprised him by leaning in and giving him a kiss. When she pulled away, he searched her eyes.

"What… what was that for?"

Meredith placed her hand on cheek. "Derek, had I have known that it bothered you so much, I wouldn't have stopped you from doing it earlier. I… The reason I didn't want people to know was because I knew it would make your life so much harder. But if keeping it a secret was worse than letting people know, you should have made that clear. There is no need to be sorry for something that was rightfully yours to do. So… now everyone knows, no more secrets, and hopefully, the rest of this will all just blow over pretty quickly and we'll get on with life."

Derek looked Meredith in the eyes. "So… you're not angry?"

Meredith laughed. "Of course not Derek. I'm sure it'll be a little hard in the beginning, but we'll be in all of this together. That's all that matters, right?"

Derek smiled and leaned in to kiss her again. "Right."

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOI

"Where are we going Derek?" Meredith exclaimed as Derek drove through the busy Seattle streets.

"I told you, it's a surprise."

Meredith had been released like planned and had spent that entire day just sleeping at the hotel. The day after, she made her way back to the hospital and noticed that everyone stared at her as she walked through the halls. _Oh well,_ she thought. Might as well let them stare while they can, right?

She had spent most of that day just hanging out in the tunnels with whoever had charts.

"_I haven't seen Dr Bailey the entire time I've been here," Meredith commented and Cristina laughed. _

"_She's on stress leave," Cristina answered, and Meredith's mouth hung open. "She had this bunch of interns that drove her completely off the wagon, so her doctor gave her three months of stress leave. She should be back any day now."_

_Meredith laughed. "I can't believe we broke that woman. If there was anyone who could deal with us, I thought it would be her."_

_Cristina shrugged. "That's what they all thought." _

And now it was their last day in Seattle, and Meredith was being dragged away to who knows where by Derek when she could be spending these last few hours with people she probably wouldn't see again for a little while.

So she sulked.

"Derek, I swear, you get to have me all the time, we're going back to New York _together_ tomorrow and you can't let me spend a few last hours with my friends? What's so important that you need to-" she stopped talking when she recognized the road they were turning onto. "Derek, are we…"

Derek looked over at her and smiled. "Home sweet home," he said as he pulled into the dirt driveway. Before they knew it, the trailer appeared before them and Meredith laughed. "I couldn't come to Seattle and not come out here. And I couldn't come out here without dragging you with me."

He hopped out of the car and ran over to Meredith's side to open the door for her like a true gentleman. This made her giggle slightly, and as he led her towards the cliff, Meredith couldn't help but think of how beautiful this place truly was.

"It's just as breathtaking as I remember it," Meredith said as she looked out across the water.

"Yeah, it is," Derek replied, not taking his eyes off of her.

When she turned around to face him, Derek's face lit up.

"I'm glad you took me out here, even if I complained about it," Meredith said with a smirk.

Derek laughed. "There was no way I wasn't getting you out here. I would have dragged you out here, tied down in your seat if I had to. I'm just glad you're not quite as stubborn as you could be," he said with a wink. Meredith rolled her eyes, but the two just laughed, completely lost in the moment.

But Derek had a point he needed to get to in all of this.

"Meredith, we've been through so many ups and downs. And through it all, you didn't give up on me. You didn't let all of the crap I put you through bring you down. And when I thought I had lost you for sure, I broke a little - no, a lot - inside and I didn't think I'd be able to breathe without you. You're like oxygen, keeping me alive breath by breath. Finding our way back to each other, that was some sort of destiny, or fate, leading us to where we both needed to be. We needed each other more than ever and some God out there made sure he got us to where we needed to be. And I know, it hasn't been long since we've gotten back into this everyday living, but I know that there's no place I'd rather be than by your side for the rest of my life Meredith. With our baby on its way, there's no better time than now to start building the strong relationship that will keep us together as a family. The base is already there, but we need to keep building if we want to stay sheltered from the storms. And there will be many of those with time. But you're my light after the storm blows through, and I want you to stay my light until the end of time. I… I made one promise to my mom before I left New York to join you out here, and that promise was to get this out of its box," he said as he pulled the small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal the beautiful ring. Meredith gasped. "If you want to run, run, but make sure your destination is straight back here in my arms, because there is no other place I would rather you be. So Meredith, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, my everything, my one and only love for the rest of my life?"

**And that's the end of the story folks ! Joking, but it is the end of the chapter (; Ain't I mean ? Anyway, I thought about making Addison a bitch in this one since she's so nice in my other story but I just couldn't. I like her nice (; As for putting Lexie in the story, as some people had asked, I'm not planning on doing that even with her terrible end on the show. She's a big part of my other story so if you really want some good ole Lexie and Mark, scoot on over to Ever Ever After. **

**Hope you guys all liked this !**

**Epilogue is up next !**


	16. Epilogue

**I know it's been a very very long time since I lastupdated this but as it's the last chapter, I was so disappointed to see it end ! I hope you all enjoy this little epilogue ! Thanks for reading and all of your patience. I really appreciate you guys not giving up on me ! **

It was a beautiful day for Seattle. Not a cloud in the sky, not a drop of rain in the weather forecast, not a sign of a storm anywhere on the horizon. For April, Seattle had never looked better.

And to see that sun rising over the water made that morning all the more special.

"Meredith?"

It was a little after seven in the morning when Meredith had been discovered on the beach. She had been up since nearly five and couldn't manage to get back to sleep. That's how she had ended up on the beach. She had watched the ferry go by three times already, and she could see it returning from a distance. Her thoughts were everywhere, but every time the ferry came back into the harbor, she remembered why she was here.

Her mind flashed back to that one fateful evening, a night that seemed forever ago, as the ferry made its way back to the dock. A smile appeared each time, and she couldn't help but smile again as his voice replayed in her mind.

" _I… I made one promise to my mom before I left New York to join you out here, and that promise was to get this out of its box," he said as he pulled the small box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal the beautiful ring. Meredith gasped. "If you want to run, run, but make sure your destination is straight back here in my arms, because there is no other place I would rather you be. So Meredith, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife, my everything, my one and only love for the rest of my life?"_

_Meredith stared at the small box, then looked back up into Derek's eyes and couldn't help the extremely wide smile that took over her features._

"_Yes, of course, I… Yes Derek, I will marry you!"_

_Derek's eyes filled with tears, as did Meredith's, as he slid the ring onto her finger and brought her in for a long passionate kiss. That night was the beginning of the rest of their lives._

She looked down at the ring and her smile grew wider as she remembered having gone back to the hospital that night, having shocked everyone with their big news. In a mass of crazy congratulations and friendly hugs, Meredith had managed to find a way of ending up wrapped in the one person's arms she had least expected.

"_Congratulations Meredith," Addison had said with a sincere smile. "If there's anyone that deserves this, it's the two of you."_

_Meredith had stared at the woman in shock and the redhead had just laughed. "_ _I know, I know, I wasn't always the nicest with you… Well, I was a total bitch and I know it, but that doesn't mean I haven't opened my eyes and come to realize that life is too short to make something bad out of something that could be extremely good. So, think of this as a piece offering, and the beginning of a possible friendship. I truly believe we have more in common than our taste in men," she finished with a wink._

_They both laughed and Meredith truly believed that anything was possible after that._

They had stayed in contact. Meredith and Addison had emailed a lot back and forth with the time and even went to spending a few hours talking on the phone. Derek worried, Mark laughed it off, Natalie rolled her eyes and blamed it on the pregnancy hormones and Carolyn thought of it as two countries finally calling it a truce after years in war.

Meredith thought of it as a friendship in the making.

"Earth to Meredith?"

Meredith looked up from the water and turned to face the smiling expression of the one who had been the most excited of all at the news of the engagement.

_Meredith and Derek had decided that they'd wait until they had gotten back to New York before sharing the news of their engagement with the family. They had purposely made no phone call home before leaving, as to not be tempted._

_But as soon as they arrived at the airport, they knew there would be no more hiding it._

"_Meredith!" Natalie exclaimed as she saw them coming through the gates. "How was it? How are you feeling? Was there a lot of drama? Did Mark pick up any random woman? He didn't take any of them home with him, did he?"_

_Meredith just laughed as Natalie kept squeezing her with ever question._

_Carolyn's eyes shot straight for Meredith's left hand, and smiled brightly when she noticed the new piece of jewelry. _

"_I made a promise," Derek said as he reached her side. "And I kept that promise."_

_Carolyn turned to her son and gave him a hug he would remember forever. When they had finally pulled away, Carolyn had tears in her eyes._

"_She's perfect Derek, and I'm just glad that you're making her a part of our family, officially."_

_Derek smiled at his mother. "I wouldn't have it any other way."_

_Natalie, however, hadn't noticed the ring until they were back at the house._

"_Here Meredith, let me help you with –" she stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Meredith's left hand clamped around her suitcase. She looked quickly up into Meredith's eyes, glanced back at her brother, back at the ring, and finally, as she looked back at Meredith, the most enormous smile spread across her face. "Meredith! Oh my God! How the hell did I not notice-I mean, how could you not say – The two of you are engaged! Holy crap Meredith! Do you know what this means? I told you we'd be sisters, officially and all! I can't believe this!" She brought Meredith in for another long hug before she let go and looked at her brother. She just smiled before throwing herself in his arms._

"_I'm glad you approve," Derek said with a laugh._

"_Approve?!" Natalie exclaimed. "Are you crazy! I would have forced you into marrying her had you not of made the step on your own."_

_Derek smiled. "I had a little help," he said as he sent a wink to his mother._

_Carolyn just smiled in return as she wrapped an arm around her soon to daughter-in-law's shoulder. _

"_Derek, it's good to have you back," Natalie said. "And it's good you brought all of you back with you. Without Meredith, you're not the Derek I know and love. She brought you back to us."_

"_With a lot of help," Meredith said as she looked over to Carolyn. "And he came back on his own, I had nothing to do with that."_

"_No," Carolyn said, "But you do have to do with everything when it comes to making him the man he is since he's been back. You've brought this family back together, so what better way than making you officially a part of it?"_

An official part of the family. She hadn't truly had a real family until she had found the Shepherd's. Or more so, the Shepherd's had found her. And since that day, she had changed into the person she truly felt she wanted to be. Without them, she didn't know where she would be today. She didn't think she'd be much of anywhere, honestly.

And today, she would make the huge step to making it official.

"How are you feeling?" Natalie asked as she took a seat beside her soon to be sister-in-law.

Meredith stared out into the bay before turning her head and facing the woman whom she thought of as more than just a friend. It had always been like that. Since the beginning, they had had a stronger connection that just friends. They had had that sisterly bond since day one, and Meredith couldn't think of her life without Natalie in it now. It just wasn't right.

"I feel…" Meredith smiled. "I feel like I'm the luckiest woman on the earth right now."

Natalie laughed. "You, Meredith Grey, are the luckiest woman on the earth right now."

Meredith laughed as she stood up. "That'll be Shepherd to you in less than twelve hours."

Natalie rolled her eyes as she stood back up too. "Derek was right, about Seattle being beautiful."

Meredith smiled. "Yeah, it really is."

Natalie rested her hand against Meredith's shoulder as they walked back up the hill, back to the hotel. "I can't wait to see this land of his. He says the view is breathtaking."

Meredith nodded. "It's the most breathtaking view I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot."

Natalie smiled. "Then I guess there truly was no better place to hold the wedding then, was there?"

Meredith shook her head. "None."

_The first decision that had been made when talk of the wedding had started was where it was going to be held._

"_The big decision," Natalie said as she, Meredith, Carolyn, Amy, Derek and Mark sat around the table, "is New York or Seattle."_

_Meredith and Derek exchanged a glance before Meredith said, with confidence in her voice; "Seattle."_

_Natalie seemed almost shocked. "Really?"_

_Derek winked at Meredith, who looked back at Natalie and nodded. "Seattle is where everything happened. It doesn't feel right, not having it in Seattle."_

_Natalie nodded as she wrote it down, as if they'd forget that detail. "Any idea where in Seattle."_

_Derek didn't give anyone the chance to say anything. "If Seattle was an easy decision, than saying that we want to have the wedding on my land is almost a given. There's no better place." He looked over at Meredith, who smiled brightly, and he couldn't help but reach for her hand across the small table._

"_Do you two always need to be touching each other?" Mark asked as he rolled his eyes. "I swear, it's as if there was some sort of magnetic force keeping the two of you stuck together like freaking crazy glue."_

"_Shut up Mark," Amy said as she rolled her eyes. "I think it's perfectly sweet and romantic for newly engaged couples."_

_Mark huffed as he sunk back in his chair._

"_When do you guys want to have it?" Natalie then asked._

_Meredith rested her hand on her four month pregnant belly before looking back at Natalie. "Before the baby is born."_

_Everyone looked at Meredith, almost surprised._

"_Meredith…" Carolyn said. "Are you sure?"_

_Meredith nodded as Derek gave her hand a tight squeeze. "I know that a wedding after the baby is born will be impossible to plan. Life will get in the way, and I want this to happen. Derek and I talked about it, and we don't want anything big. It won't take long to organize and Addie said that I could still fly until I was at about seven months. So we were thinking that maybe we could have it in two months."_

"_I guess we'll have to start booking our vacation now," Natalie said, as she wrote it down in her little planner book._

"_There's just one weird thing in all of this," Mark said, voicing his thoughts._

_Carolyn seemed curious. "What's that Mark?"_

"_Since when do you call Addison Addie?"_

_Everyone laughed as Meredith rolled her eyes. _

And the wedding planning had gone fast, just like they had anticipated. Everything was going to be perfect. But two weeks before they were scheduled to fly out to Seattle, the unanticipated happened.

"_What happened?" Derek said as he rushed into the ER at New York Pres and ran straight into Amy. "Where are they?" He ran a hand through his hair._

"_Derek, calm down a little bit, okay? I'm as freaked out about this as you are. Just breathe…"_

_He took a deep breath like Amy had ordered. How she could keep her cool at times like these, Derek didn't know. But he just guessed it came with the territory of being a trauma surgeon. _

"_Mom's been moved to her own room. She's only got a few bangs and bruises. Maybe a fractured leg. She'll be out of here in a few days. Natalie… well Natalie is in surgery. She hit her head really hard on the steering wheel because the air bag didn't deploy. She has a fractured skull and you know as well as I do that she's in the best hands she can be in," she said, knowing that Derek needed that reassurance. _

"_What… where's Meredith?"_

_Amy sighed. "Meredith's in the ICU. She's gone into a coma."_

_Derek shuttered at the thought of Meredith's lifeless body and all the tubes. He rubbed his eyes, only then noticing the tears that were streaming down his face. _

"_It's only temporary. There is still plenty of brain activity, but they're not sure when she'll wake up."_

_Derek nodded. He gulped. "What… what about the baby?"_

_Amy showed the first sign of weakness since her brother walked in by looking away before relaying the information the OB had given her. "They… They don't think the baby will make it through the next few days. I'm… I'm so sorry Derek…" _

_Derek just cried into his hands. He knew everything had gone too well since the beginning of all this for everything to just turn out fine in the end. He knew there had to be a catch somewhere. But he needed to stay strong right now. At least until he found himself alone._

"_What about the other vehicle?" he then asked, taking a deep breath._

_Amy sighed. "The driver was alone. He was above the legal alcohol limit. After being stitched up and having his arm being put in a sling, the police escorted him out. He will be locked away for a while Derek."_

_Derek shook his head. "That won't ever be enough to repay what he took away from us."_

_Amy nodded sadly. "I know Derek, I know."_

_He left his sister there, and rather than going to find his mother, he found an empty on-call room. The first thing he did would shock most, but not the other person on the end of the shocking phone call._

"_Derek, I'm coming out right now. I'm sure there's something I'll be able to do."_

_And Derek had never felt so thankful in his life. _

_It was twelve hours, almost to the minute, after that phone call, when Addison came out of the OR, heading straight for her ex-husband. She took a seat beside him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. _

_Derek reached up and rested his hand on top of hers, almost needing the reassurance. No, that small act was the only thing that kept him from crumbling at that very moment. That, and the line Addison finally uttered after what seemed like an eternity._

"_Your daughter is going to be fine Derek."_

_Derek's neck shot up at the sound of the incredible news. "My…"_

_Addison smiled as she took his hands in hers. "The accident caused some internal mess. Nothing that would put Meredith's life in danger since it was all stuff that would heal with time. But the baby's blood supply had been cut off, which meant that no blood was getting to her heart. And all that… well, you know what it all leads up to. If it hadn't of been for your paternal instincts and calling me… She had very little time left Derek. You just proved that you are going to make an amazing father. As if any of us doubted that before," she finished with a small laugh. "Meredith's still unconscious, but that's not my area. Your baby girl, however, is wide awake and waiting for her mommy to wake up. I'll be sticking around for about a week, hoping Meredith will wake up sometime during that time. I'll be keeping an eye out on the both of them. So now, you get your ass out of this chair and go visit any of the many family members who need you around right now."_

_Derek nodded as he stood up, following Addison's advice, and example. _

"_Addison," he called, before she headed off to far. _

_She turned to face him. "Yeah?"_

_Derek caught up with her, and without warning, wrapped his arms around her, giving her a hug she didn't expect._

_But she hugged him back, knowing it's what he needed._

"_Thank you, again, for saving them. I don't… I don't know what I would have done without you."_

_Addison gave him a quick tap on the back before pulling away. "Derek, you know I'd do anything for you, the two of you. And it was your phone call that saved her."_

"_So… We're really having a baby girl?" he asked, a smile finally making its way onto his face._

_Addison smiled back. "You're going to be the proud father of a lovely baby girl. Congratulations Derek."_

"_Thank you, again, again."_

_Addison laughed. "Anytime Derek, and you know it."_

Meredith had woken up just three days after the accident, the same day that Carolyn was being released; along with the same day that Natalie had been given the okay that there would be no further issues. Derek had been able to share the good news about their baby girl. The only bad thing that came out of it all was that the wedding was going to have to be postponed.

Everyone, of course, understood and just wished the best for the family. Meredith had been put on bed rest then and there and as much as she hated it, she accepted it and took up knitting. Again.

But after only three more months, the day came where Elizabeth Caroline Grace Shepherd came to the world. Born two weeks before her due date, Elizabeth turned into one cute kid pretty quickly, and her dad had definitely been proud of both of her girls.

"_Meredith, I believe in you," he said as he sat behind her on the hospital bed. She was propped up between his legs, sitting so that when she pushed, he would be there to support her. He kissed her on the forehead as the OB pulled her legs apart._

"_Meredith, the baby's ready," she said. "I need you to push when I say push, okay?"_

_Meredith clutched Derek's hand tightly. "Derek! I… I can't do this! I… I'm not ready, I can't… I just-"_

_Derek cut her off. "You can do anything, and you know it Meredith. And I'm right here. So just squeeze my hand, okay?"_

_She cried out and did as she was told as she pushed. _

_Once._

_Twice._

_Three times._

_And then baby cries filled the room._

_Elizabeth Caroline Grace Shepherd. _

"_I'm totally the one who suggested the Grace part," Mark said proudly as he held her and cooed at her only just a few hours later._

"_As much as I was against it," Meredith started, "you did have a point when you had suggested it. And the hospital was a big part in her being here today. That and the people in that hospital."_

She thought about all the people that had called her. Cristina and Izzie, of course. Even Alex and George. Richard had gone on and on about how anxious he was to meet her. And she had even gotten a word of congratulations from Bailey at the end of her phone call from Richard. She hadn't heard from or of her old resident since Cristina had informed her of her stress leave. But it didn't matter. It was just nice hearing from her again.

She had spent a lot of time talking with Addison. Of course she had, with everything the woman had helped her through, it was almost impossible that they hadn't formed a bond. After talking to her, she had watched Derek talk to his sisters over the phone and beam about everything. Natalie and Amy sat in the room with her, and Meredith knew at that moment that she was a part of something really special, and that Elizabeth was one lucky little girl to be a part of it too.

And now, she walked back through the small Inn they were staying at, hoping she'd find her daughter still fast asleep.

After Elizabeth was born, as Meredith had predicted, life had gotten in the way and the wedding was pushed back further and further. Her and Derek had talked and they had both agreed they wanted to stick with all the original plans, which included his land in Seattle, so waiting was the easiest option.

But life kept getting in the way, and surprise after surprise kept them from getting their special day.

When they said they'd wait, they hadn't exactly expected it to be for this long.

And when she had hoped she'd find her daughter still fast asleep, she knew she'd have to have been dreaming for that to be possible.

"Mommy, mommy!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she jumped from her grandmother's lap and into her mother's arms. "Mommy, look!"

Meredith smiled brightly at the small white tooth her daughter held out in front of her face. "Lizzie, you lost your very first tooth!"

Elizabeth smiled brightly and Meredith couldn't help but laugh as she noticed the gap in her bottom row of teeth. "Do you think the tooth fairy will let me keep it?"

Meredith shrugged as she set her five and a half year old daughter back down on the ground. "You'll have to write him a letter and ask him nicely. Put it under your pillow with your tooth tonight."

Elizabeth nodded quickly before she ran over to the dresser, set it down carefully, and ran back over to Meredith. "I'm going to go see if Laura and Ashley are up yet."

Before Meredith could stop her, the little girl was already out the door and headed down the hall to her cousins' room.

"They're awake," Natalie reassured her. "Why else do you think I'm up this early?"

Meredith smiled. "I can't believe she's lost her first tooth!"

Natalie laughed. "It's one of the many firsts you'll get to go through. And this one will be remembered forever. That gap will be noticeable in all of your wedding pictures today, trust me."

The three women laughed.

"Any word from the men?" Natalie asked her mother, wondering how the camping had gone the night before. Derek's idea of the perfect bachelor party was fishing and setting up camp in the middle of nowhere. Mark, who enjoyed it just as much as he did, couldn't complain so it had been easy for him to organize. The two of them, the four brother-in-laws, Richard, and a few other Seattle friends had all packed up early the day before and they wouldn't see the men until the ceremony that afternoon.

"Not a word," Carolyn said. Just then, the baby monitor sitting on the dresser beside Carolyn started up with a noise all three woman knew too well.

As Carolyn went to get up, Meredith stopped her. "I've got it," she said with a smile.

She walked across the hall to her room where she found little Mason standing in his crib, tear filled eyes following her until she reached him.

"Mummy," he said as he reached up, indicating he wanted out. He immediately cuddled his head into her shoulder and balled his fists tightly as his arms gripped around her neck. Meredith bounced as she cooed him, all the while crossing the hall back over to her mother's room.

"I think this little one was up a little too late last night," Meredith said as the two year old continued to sob on her shoulder.

"He's going to find it a long day," Natalie said as she brushed the boy's blond shaggy hair out of his eyes.

"We'll put him down for a nap while we're getting you all dolled up," Carolyn said with a smile.

Meredith smiled. That day, the one that had been put on hold nearly six years ago, had finally arrived.

IOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIOIO 

"You look gorgeous," Izzie ogled as she snuck into the room where Meredith was pulling on her dress.

Meredith laughed. "I can't believe the dress still fits after having spent the last six years tucked away. It didn't need to even be retouched anywhere. It just, fit."

Cristina smiled from her seat between Amy and Kathleen, the oldest Shepherd. "I do have to admit, you do look stunning."

"As always," Natalie exclaimed as she pulled the curlers out of the brides hair. "Just a few more touches, and you'll be ready to meet your prince charming at the end of the aisle."

Meredith smiled. "I've been ready for a while now. I'm just glad it's finally here."

She spun around to face the crowd of woman and they all smiled and started commenting on every little detail.

"You look like a princess mommy!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she danced around in her own little white dress. She had been just as excited as Meredith for this day because she was told that the role of flower girl was one of the most important in the entire process. She just wanted to feel special.

"I feel like a princess," Meredith said as she kissed the top of her daughter's head.

"Does that mean daddy's the prince?"

Meredith laughed. "It sure does."

And before they knew it, it was time.

Meredith drove in a car with Carolyn, Natalie, Cristina and Elizabeth to Derek's land. Before she knew it, she was getting ready to walk down the aisle. As the music started, and where most women got nervous, she had never felt more confident in her life.

And that confidence grew when she caught a glimpse of Derek, him and Mark both smiling brightly from their makeshift altar. It was obvious that Mark would be the best man to anyone who knew the two men. With the years, they had gotten closer and closer, even after Mark had moved back to Seattle. Why? Well because that's where the woman he loved was, and Mark would do anything for the woman he loved.

Meredith immediately searched the crowd for the woman in question and exchanged a smile with the very pregnant Addison Montgomery. To most, people would have thought it weird and odd that two men as close as brothers ended up married to the same women at some point in their lives. To them, it was what was meant to happen.

Addison had found it weird at first, being back with the Shepherd family, but when she realized just how inviting they had been to have her back, she warmed up quickly. Having Meredith encourage her that everything was going to be alright helped. It was very bizarre, they had never expected any of it to happen, but they had gotten closer with the years and continued to grow stronger.

Meredith searched the crowd. Many of the faces were those of family. All of the Shepherd girls, minus Natalie, who was one of her bridesmaids, along with the husbands and all the grandkids took up the majority of the small seating area. The rest were mostly Seattle friends. Izzie and Alex, George and a girl Meredith had yet to get to know. Richard and Adele. Even Miranda Bailey had decided to come by. Preston Burke, whom Derek had become close to, and, who was of course married to Meredith's maid of honor, was seated near Richard. He watched Cristina with a twinkle in his eye and Meredith couldn't help but smile at how in love they truly were. There were other faces, people she knew, others she didn't know as well. But the one person she was interested in seeing stood facing her, at the other end of the long walk.

Once their glances caught, Meredith couldn't look away. She was trapped in his stare. And she knew she would be for the rest of her life. Her gaze only shifted quickly to notice her son standing leaned up again Mark, his little hands clutched tightly onto a box, containing what Meredith knew were the wedding bands. She smiled down at her baby boy, who smiled back excitedly, before looking back up at Derek.

She couldn't hear anything around her. No words truly made it to her ears. Other than Derek's of course. But that magical line that she felt like she had been waiting for forever to hear, 'I now pronounce you husband and wife' were extremely clear. Derek didn't even wait for his cue, he just leaned in and their lips locked in the most wonderful of kisses.

When they finally parted, Meredith smiled brightly as her and Derek turned towards the crowd. Elizabeth's hand quickly found her mother's and Mason couldn't have been in his father's arms any quicker. The small family made their way back down the aisle as all of their loved ones cheered around them.

Carolyn smiled as she watched it all unfold. She couldn't believe how the woman on the bench, whom she thought of as nothing more than a perfect stranger, turned out to be more than she ever could have dreamed of. And it was in that moment that she realized that Meredith Grey had never been a stranger. She had been a gift sent from the heavens above. She had been the miracle Carolyn had been waiting for.

She completed the family.

And that missing picture on the wall wouldn't be missing for much longer.

All because Meredith Grey turned out to be not so much of a stranger after all.

**All done ! It's hard to believe , huh ? Hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it ! **


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